The Medicine course of Escola Bahiana de Medicina e Saúde Pública acaba de alcançar mais uma conquista em seu processo de internacionalização. O feito dá-se pelo fato de a instituição, entre as 280 escolas médicas de todo o país, já pertencer ao seleto grupo de apenas 32 cursos de Medicina do Brasil acreditados pelo Sistema de Acreditação de Escolas Médicas (SAEME). O sistema foi implementado por meio de uma parceria entre o Conselho Federal de Medicina (CFM) e a Associação Brasileira de Escolas Médicas (ABEM) e, recentemente, foi certificado pela World Federation For Medical Education (Federação Mundial de Educação Médica – WFME), cujo objetivo é melhorar a qualidade da educação médica em todo o mundo.

The certificate granted by WFME to SAEME recognizes the international accreditation process, post-accreditation monitoring and the decision-making process of the system in the evaluation of Brazilian medical schools. According to the SAEME portal, "the concept of Accreditation means the formal recognition of the quality of services offered by an institution. This recognition is based on standardized assessment by an independent body, which proves that an institution meets previously defined requirements and has competence to carry out its role effectively and safely." The document is valid until April 30, 2029, during which time the system will remain monitored by WFME.

This recognition allows all medical schools that hold the SAEME seal to be automatically recognized and internationally certified to carry out academic activities, such as taking medical residency and postgraduate courses. In addition, students graduating from medical courses at certified institutions will find it easier to validate their diplomas for professional practice in other countries, such as the United States.

The Medicine course of Bahiana received the SAEME seal of accreditation in 2017 and, for this, underwent a rigorous evaluation that proved its status of excellence through criteria that involve educational aspects, faculty profile, quality of management and infrastructure offered to students and employees.

The manager of the Institutional Academic Relationship and Internationalization Center of Bahiana (REAII), Antonieta Araújo, explains that SAEME certification directly benefits the Bahiana na medida em que a sessão norte-americana da Comissão Educacional para Estrangeiros Graduados em Medicina (Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates – ECFMG), que regulamenta o exercício profissional de médicos(as) nos Estados Unidos e Canadá e pela qual a Bahiana is already certified, determined that, as of 2023, physicians who wish to do medical residency or practice in those countries must not only have certification from this agency (ECFMG) but also have graduated from a medical school with international accreditation.

To meet this level of international accreditation, the Bahiana has been accredited, through a formal process, with criteria comparable to those established by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) for US medical schools or institutions using other globally accepted criteria such as those presented by the World Federation of Education Medical (WFME).