Latest Event Updates
Dr Susan Fock Tave Becomes Acting Chairperson of SMDC
The Registrar of SMDC, Dr Susan Fock Tave, is now also the Acting Chairperson of the Seychelles Medical and Dental Council until elections for a new Chairperson are held later this month. This follows the resignation, effective 30th June 2018, of the Chairperson, Dr Bernard Valentin, who cited need for new leadership of the Council as his reasons for resigning.
The eleven members of the Council are expected to vote for their new Chairperson during the regular meeting of the Council which will be held on the last Thursday of the month of July 2018 (Thursday 26th July).
Dr Susan Fock Tave is an ENT Surgeon and Chief Medical Officer of the Ministry of Health and is expected to carry forward the plan to repeal and replace the Medical Practitioners and Dentists Act, which came into being in 1994, almost twenty five years ago.
Work on a new Medical Practitioners and Dentists Act has already started with the assistance of the General Medical Council of United Kingdom and Dr Susan Fock Tave has been leading this effort.
SMDC Chairman Resigns
The Chairman of SMDC, Dr Bernard Valentin, has resigned with effect from the 30th June 2018. Dr Valentin will remain an ordinary member of the Council until the 30th September 2018. In his letter of resignation, Dr Valentin cited the need for new leadership to take the Council much further forward. He said a lot had been accomplished from the time he took over in 2013.
Some, but not all, of the accomplishments of SMDC during this time, (in no particular order), has been the following:
• New professional misconduct regulation
• New fees structure
• Intensification of disciplinary procedures and transparency in decision making on matters of discipline
• Creation of a website, Facebook page and Wikipedia entry
• Adoption of a logo
• Trustworthy database with new unique identifier
• Introduction of primary and secondary source verification of documents
• Annual publication of trustworthy list of registered practitioners as per law
• Annual auditing of the Accounts as per the law
• Joining of AMCOA ( Association of Medical Councils Of Africa)
• Joining of IAMRA (International Association of Medical Regulatory Authorities)
Introduction of new trustworthy database and unique identifier.
• Collaboration with GMC-UK (General Medical Council of UK)
• Organization of the Annual Conferences with involvement of Professors of International repute
• Receipt of funding from Government to pay staff and Council Members
• Increase of Council funds from 285,000SR to over 1,200,000SR
• New spacious Headquarters for the Council
• Acquisition of 3 permanent full time employee-posts
• Appointment of a Senior Medical Practitioner as the Registrar
• Winning of a Supreme Court Case
• Initiation of process to renew Medical Practitioners and Dentists Act
• Contribution to elevate person centred care in Seychelles
• Close collaboration with the Nurses and Midwives Council and the Health Professionals Council
Members of the Council thanked Dr Valentin for his service and his leadership.
Regional experts help Seychelles think through modern approaches to regulate health care professionals
Dr. Kgosi Letlape, President of the Health Professions Council of South Africa and 
Mr Daniel Yumbya, CEO of the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Board were in Seychelles from the 21st to 24th March 2018 to work with the Ministry of Health and the Seychelles Medical and Dental Council and other professional councils on new approaches for regulation in Seychelles.
The two experts lectured respectively about the privilege and exigencies of professional self-regulation and on steps to improve Medical and Dental Practice through Innovation and self-regulation, recounting especially the experience of the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentist Board.
They also held meetings with senior officials of the Ministry, the Health Care Agency and the Public Health Authority.
The aim of the interaction was to educate health care professionals on the role and responsibilities of the regulatory bodies (the Councils), to create awareness of the need to revise and revamp existing legislation and to empower health care professionals to actively engage with their respective councils in the revision of existing legislations.
Dr Letlape and Dr Yumbya are expected to continue engaging with Seychelles on these topics.
SMDC discusses “Return to practice framework”
The SMDC has begun discussion on a return to practice framework for doctors and dentists in Seychelles.
The framework will draw from experiences of other countries and will take into consideration two unique circumstances of Seychelles – the absence of an in-country medical school and the large presence of foreign doctors and dentists in the country.
“SMDC recognizes that more and more doctors and dentists will leave the profession for a while to attend to their personal matters,” said a member of the Council. “But that should not stop them from returning to the profession when they feel they need to.”
The need to change the Medical Practitioners and Dentists Act of 1994, has been long expressed by the medical and dental community and efforts are currently underway to do so.
Training Courses
The National Institute of Health and Social Studies has the pleasure to invite mature students who want a career in a health related field to apply for the following courses on offer in 2018.
- Diploma in Nursing
- Diploma in Pharmaceutical Sciences
- Diploma in Environmental Health Sciences
- Diploma in Nutrition
- Diploma in Emergency Medical Care
- Diploma in Occupational Therapy
- Certificate in Health Care
Further information please call 4242006/4242011 or email director.NIHSS@health.gov.sc.
Application forms can be collected at the National Institute of Health and Social Studies at North East Point or at the Security Desk at Red Roof, Ministry of Health Campus.
All application forms and additional documents should be submitted by Friday 29th December 2017.
Two members of SMDC in Malawi to discuss SADC’s new Medical and Dental Regulators Association
Dr Susan Fock Tave, Registrar, and Dr Winnie Low Wah, member of the current and of the incoming SMDC, are in Malawi to participate in a historic meeting to set up the Medical and Dental 
Regulatory Association of the Member States of SADC, (Southern Africa Development Community). Seychelles is a member of that organization, along with 13 other Countries of the region.
At the meeting on the 2nd and 3rd November, the participants who are principally the Chairmen and Registrars of the various Councils of the region, will consider the Constitution of the Association, the strategic plan and a potential location for the Secretariat of the Association.
The Chairman of SMDC and Principal Secretary for Health, Dr Bernard Valentin, could not attend the meeting due to other commitments.
The Minister for Health has appointed the following persons as members of the New SMDC. Their term of office starts on 1/12/2017
- Mr William Zarine
- Ms Gylian Mein
- Fr Danny Elizabeth
- Dr Winnie Low Wah
- Dr Harold Pothin
- Dr Dereck Samsoodin
- Dr Jastin Bibi
- Dr Susan Fock Tave
- Dr Vinayagamurthy Pillay
- Dr Bernard Valentin
- Dr Jacques Filez
The main task of the new SMDC will be to have the Medical Practitioners and Dentists Act of 1994 repealed and replaced as a matter of urgency.
Elections return old faces to new council
After the botched elections of the 6th October 2017 when a registration mishap yielded more ballot papers in the box than doctors and/or dentists who had turned up to vote, new elections for the five available seats were held today Friday 20th November.
Except for one person, the three doctors and two dentists elected are not new to the Council, having served on at least one occasion before.
Murthy Pillay, Jastin Bibi, Winnie Low Wah and Dereck Samsoodin are the returning ones, while Jacques Filez will be serving for the very first time.
Their elections having now entered into the annals of history, their work is cut out for them.
The minister responsible for health, Jean Paul Adam will appoint six other people to join them on the new SMDC.
Second symposium on person-centered care and quality care ends
Supported by the World Health Organization and the Ministry of Health, the three-day inter-professional symposium organized by the Seychelles Medical and Dental Council, the Seychelles Nurses and Midwives Council and the Health Professional Council ended on a high note on Saturday 8th July 2017. This year’s symposium which comes at the heels of the one organized in 2016, was themed “Moving Person-Centered Care and Quality Care forward.”
The symposium was facilitated by Prosper Tumusiime and Nuria Toro of the World Health Organization and Professor Anne Hendry, an integrated care specialist from Scotland. Professors Cecilia Maiers and Janina Johnson from the Chamberlain College of Nursing facilitated a session for Nurse Managers, on the first day of the meeting. Health Minister, Jean Paul Adam, delivered the opening address. before a mix of over 100 doctors, nurses, psychologists, physiotherapists and others, working both in the private sector and the public sector.
Principal Secretary for Health and Chairman of the Medical and Dental Council, Dr Bernard Valentin, delivered the closing speech and committed to turn Seychelles into an Indian Ocean hub for person-centered care and quality care.
After the closing, the organizers retired for a well-earned business dinner at the Treasure Cove Restaurant (picture).
SEYCHELLES MEDICAL AND DENTAL COUNCIL 