The Chief Medical Director, Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), Prof. Adetokunbo Fabamwo, has explained why the hospital has taken the lead in training anaesthetists and anaesthesia technicians, saying the hospital management moved to train new anaesthesia technicians to bridge the country’s healthcare workforce gap. He stressed that since LASUTH has the requisite resources and personnel to provide the training, having a school for training anaesthetists and anaesthesia technicians is the teaching hospital’s way of rendering more service to the country.
According to Fabamwo, anaesthetists are always in high demand because their services are critical to positive surgical outcomes for patients in every hospital – public or private. Anaesthesia technicians are the professionals that support anaesthetists by preparing and maintaining anaesthesia equipment for use in surgical operations. The CMD was upbeat that the school, which has passed all accreditation hurdles and fully certified by regulatory authorities, would offer a three-year comprehensive programme in anaesthetic technology. The first set He noted that the best among the 34 matriculating students would be retained by the hospital.
“We found out that there is a gap in the number of anaesthetic technicians available. So, LAUSTH management decided to set up a school to train anaesthetic technicians. We have enough resources, personnel and equipment to train them. We have embarked on the journey and this is the first step of matriculating them so they can start their academic session well.
“Anaesthetic technicians are to be trained to maintain and keep in good working order, the machines and equipment used to put patients to sleep and keep them alive in the intensive care unit and theatre to assist the anaesthetists to carry out their work effectively,” Fabamwo said.
Lamenting the negative impact of brain drain on the health sector, especially as it concerns anaesthetists and anaesthetic technicians, a consultant anaesthetist, Dr. Obashina Ogunbiyi (a retired major general), has appealed to governments at all levels to walk the talk by addressing the constant migration of anaesthetists and anaesthetic technicians from the country.
Delivering his keynote address titled: “Anaesthesia Workforce Development in Nigeria: Opportunities in a Challenging Terrain,” Ogunbiyi urged the government to create an enabling environment through wages and infrastructure improvements to encourage healthcare workers from migrating from the country. He said that poaching by high-income countries, chiefly Saudi Arabia, is threatening efforts to bridge the gap in the Nigerian anaesthesia workforce.
“Today marks the beginning of a paradigm shift in healthcare delivery related to the specialty of anaesthesia and anaesthetic manpower training in Nigeria. It is an acceptable fact that the skills mix of available healthcare workers especially in sub-Saharan Africa is grossly deficient. Furthermore, the workforce providing healthcare in sub-Saharan Africa is over-stretched and contributing to this are several forces which differ from country to country. In the main, these include but not limited to the proverbial ‘brain drain,’ infectivity of healthcare workers with the devastating human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which stresses the morale of these workers and the education, training and employment of some key healthcare professionals which is at variance with particular health needs of the population.
“The brain drain involves the continued migration of doctors, including physician anaesthetists, nurses, including critical care nurses and non-physician anaesthetic providers and anaesthetic technicians from Nigeria to richer countries such as Saudi Arabia. This has negatively impacted on the global healthcare delivery capabilities of these sub-sets of professionals and has reached alarming stage, especially in sub-Saharan Africa.
“The Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) calls for the achievement of universal health coverage, including access to quality surgical services. The surgical workforce, including surgeons, obstetricians and anaesthetists, is key to achieving access to safe, affordable and timely surgery. However, most low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) do not have a great enough anaesthesia workforce to ensure access to safe surgery.
“Nigeria has a generally low density of anaesthesia providers and allied workforce, compared to the population. The poaching of Physician Anaesthetists and allied healthcare providers such as Anaesthetic Technicians necessary for provision of safe anaesthesia in the face of a challenging terrain typified by the dwindling economy should be properly addressed by the government,” he said.