This Training Programme supported by the Angolan State, is expected to last five years, and is an initiative of the respective FAA department and is expected to enable the training of around one thousand professionals to work in the healthcare network.
The Programme has two modalities:
1 - Training in Angola: with the arrival of experienced, multidisciplinary teams from various medical specialties, who provide theoretical and practical training to HMP/IS professionals. At the same time, these teams treat patients, avoiding the need for them to leave the country, with procedures carried out in accordance with the best international practices. This approach allows Angolan professionals to participate directly in the procedures, always under the supervision of leading trainers, ensuring patient safety;
2 - Training abroad: professionals will undertake internships of 3, 6 or 12 months, depending on the individual schedule, in the hospital units of the trainers, where they will be able to attend and participate in medical procedures. After this international experience, they return to Angola better prepared to perform procedures at HMP/IS, initially being accompanied by trainers, ensuring greater precision in diagnosis and treatment.
The Program began with the arrival of the first team composed of specialists in Urology, Anesthesia and instrumentation, and began by evaluating urological patients, discussing clinical cases and performing differentiated surgeries.
The team is led by Prof. Dr. Nuno Azevedo, an Urologist with extensive international experience in minimally invasive surgery (robotic, video-laparoscopic and endoscopic), who is the coordinator of the “Excelência em Medicina” Training Program for the partnership.
Since the start of training at HMP/IS on Monday, several patients have been operated on, many with complex clinical conditions that required the team's expertise and experience. Doctors from the Anesthesia, Operating Room and Urology departments at HMP actively participated in all the interventions, and all patients are doing well. The use of innovative and minimally invasive techniques improves functional results and facilitates recovery – some have already been discharged from HMP/IS and are now at home.
This week, two highly complex radical nephrectomies were performed – always with the participation of doctors from HMP/IS – (one by video-laparoscopy and the other by anterior approach on a tumour measuring over 20 centimetres and weighing almost 2 kilograms), in addition to endoscopic prostate surgeries (on patients with cancer and hyperplasia) and endoscopic intra-renal surgeries with flexible instruments and fragmentation of stones with laser.
This is the same international team that, in 2023, performed innovative surgeries at HMP/IS in Angola, including:
- The first video-laparoscopic radical nephrectomy;
- The first video-laparoscopic prostatectomy;
- The first endoscopic intrarenal surgery with advanced laser for the treatment of kidney stones.
Next week, training in Neurosurgery will also take place, with the Urology team remaining for another week. Later, teams from various specialties will arrive, namely Orthopedics (specializing in foot, shoulder, knee and hip pathologies), Vascular Surgery, General Surgery (focusing on minimally invasive techniques), Endocrinology, Ophthalmology, among others, totaling 26 specialties.
Soon, 13 professionals (including doctors, nurses and diagnostic and therapeutic technicians) will intern in Portuguese hospitals. This exchange will take place continuously, with groups alternating between Angola and abroad.
International training will begin with professionals in the final phase of their specialization, so that they can apply for the exit exams for their specialties. Thus, when they return as specialists, equipped with new diagnostic and treatment skills, they will be able to assume responsibilities in the health units under construction and in the training of the next generation of doctors from HMP/IS and Angola.
