**8.1 Accreditation and certification**

The development of quality assurance is a major task of the Health authorities in liaison with experts issued from the respective medical societies. It also applies to the hospital environment as well as to practitioners who have to be submitted to certification, after the report from expert visitors. Accreditation of gastroenterologists and certification of hospitals are done periodically to ensure that standards do not go below prescribed levels.

In Nigeria, the postgraduate medical colleges (West African College of Physicians/Surgeons and the National Postgraduate Medical College) undertake periodic accreditation visits to the training institutions (Teaching Hospitals, Specialist Hospitals, Federal Medical Centres and some private hospitals). Because of funding constraints, these visits are not as regular as they should be. The Federal Government of Nigeria can make the regulatory colleges more efficient by improving the funding of their activities so that they do not depend on the hospitals being accredited for any financial assistance, a situation that may introduce conflict of interest.
