Graduate education in surgery in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia - The challenge of growing pains

With the establishment of undergraduate medical education and the progress of health care in the country heralded by the return of well trained and dedicated physicians and surgeons, it was only natural that the attention will be focused on establishing graduate training for the different medical specialties in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This paper addresses the current status of general surgery training in the country and compares our model with the experience of others from the perspective of a program director. It is not the exception, but it is the rule to have challenges at this stage of development. The problems are multifactorial and need to be addressed by all those concerned with an open mind. I pretend no special farsightedness and my authority rests only on genuine concern about the issues and experience from being both a surgeon and a program director. The aim is of course to produce a future generation of well trained surgeons able to meet the challenge and take the lead in the medical care of this country. Once sound general surgery training is in place, training in specialty surgery such as thoracic and cardiac to name a few will follow suit.