Doctors move to make surgery and anesthetists affordable

Some Nigeria medical doctors, under the aegis of Nigerian Society of Anesthetists, took deliberate steps aimed at providing solutions to make surgery and anaesthesia affordable, available, timely and safe.

This was stated at society’s 24th Annual General Meeting/Scientific Conference, held in Jos, the Plateau state capital.

The 5-day conference, which brought specialist doctors in anesthesia in the country and beyond, converged to proffer solutions on surgical and anaesthesia care when needed.

In her welcome address, the President of the association, Dr. Bisola Onajin-Obembe, of the Department of Anesthesiology, University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital, Rivers state, said that “a key finding of Lancet Commission on Global Surgery published in 2015 is that 5 billion people lack access to safe, affordable, surgical and anaesthesia care when needed.

“Most of these people reside in the poorest regions of the world; 93% of the population in sub-Sahara Africa and 97% of the population in South Asia, do no have access to safe and affordable surgery and anaesthesia compared with 3.6% of the population who do not have access in high income countries”, she said.

Also speaking with our correspondent is an Anaesthetists doctor with the Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH), Dr. Adanu Gabriel, he posited that the scope of anaesthesia goes beyond the administration of the drug to patients in surgical room but also includes the entire management of patients like offering critical care in an emergency room and intensive care unit; so it extends to humanitarian service, he said.  

Gabriel call for government support in equipping hospitals across the county, as he decry the level of rot and lack of infrastructure in health care delivery and hospitals in Nigeria.