According to the organizers, WACS is charged with the responsibility to organize Post-Graduate Surgical Training and encompasses all the Anglophobe, Francophone and Lusophone countries in West Africa .

The late Sierra Leoneon Surgeon specialist, Dr. A.O Olu-Williams, was a founder member of this college in 1960, the main aim of the College being enhancing capacity building and training of Surgeons and other Surgical Sub-Specialists. Dr. Olu-Williams in 1984, when the conference was held in Sierra Leone gave a paper entitle “Meeting Sierra Leone Manpower needs.”

“As you are aware most of our Consultants are over sixty (60) years (95%) Some even over seventy (70) years, and not only those working for Government but even those in private practice, this is unattained,” a press release from WACS states.

It went on ‘the West African College of Surgeons (WACS) has been given us forms for accreditation of our institutions in order that we may now start training locally. The College is charged with the organization of seminars, research, and training of all Surgical Sub Specialties of which fifteen thousand (15,000) has been trained in the Sub region. We have benefited only be increasing our specialists by five (5) out of this fifteen thousand (15,000), due to our incapability of training locally.”

Organizing the conference here in Freetown, Sierra Leone in 2008 will:

a.Help us to launch the endowment fund specifically for training Surgeon Specialists locally.

b.Opportunity for accreditation and developing Surgical Manpower.

c.Reduce brain drain as the doctors in training will be serving their country during the period of training.