Many of you reading this website are probably asking what CEMMS entails.
Internationally we recognise that surgery of obesity needs a team of very experienced medical professionals to look after the wholistic care of the patient deciding to have the surgical option of treatment. This also includes the institution or hospital where you might undergo your surgical procedure.
Firstly, let us address the facility that does your procedure. Usually this is a hospital but can also be a day care centre. Internationally the requirements for accreditation of these facilities are strict but fair. Primarily, the accredited facility should have double doors going into even the examination room of your treating doctors. This is to allow large “double-sized” wheelchairs and beds to have easy access to all facilities for the patients. The wards should also have double door access to the bathroom particularly and the toilets and washbasins should be floor mounted to allow easy access and stability for the patient. Open showers for easy access to the patient should he or she collapse. I can mention many more requirements before the facility is accredited for bariatric/ obesity surgery. So, if you, as the patient, go into a hospital and doctors’ rooms and don’t notice these basic fundamentals of basic care, ask to see how the facility was accredited for this complex type of surgery.
My team is affiliated to SAMMSS (South African Metabolic Medicine and Surgery Society). This organisation of medical, endocrinologist and surgical professionals are responsible for helping you as the patient getting medical aid reimbursement for your surgical procedure (when you qualify for the benefits). The responsibility of this society, with a board of specialists is not only to get the surgeon and his team accredited with the medical aid but also the facility or hospital where the procedure will be performed.
So, before you let yourself have any surgical procedure, it is your right to ask for a certificate of accreditation and if one is not provided you can always go to the SAMMSS website and see if the facility and doctor is accredited or not.
Our endeavour as caring doctors towards our patients is always “to do no harm”.
In my next blog I will address the multidisciplinary team.
