KATH now training centrefor anaesthesiologists in Africa
The World Federation of Societies of Anaesthesiologists has selected the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) in Kumasi as a training centre for anaesthesiologists in Africa.
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It is the only centre on the continent with the required facility and human resource to offer that training.
Anaesthesiologists are trained medical doctors who administer anaesthesia under the supervision of a physician.
The facility will be providing further training for the professionals on the continent.
Workshop
Consequently, the facility has, with sponsorship from the Else Kroner-Fresenius Stifund (EKFS), a Germany-based foundation, organised the first-ever international workshop on ‘Ultrasound guided regional blocks’ for 40 doctors drawn from Ghana, Nigeria and Cameroun.
The trainees would form the core of trainers in the sub-region in the performance of surgeries.
The ultrasound-guided block machines help doctors to perform local anaesthesia on patients through the use of an imaging ultrasound machine to locate the particular nerve or region of the body that needs to be anaesthetised during a surgery.
Donation
The foundation also donated two ultrasound machines to the hospital to help it to offer services to patients.
The Head of Medical Humanitarian Development Programme of EKFS, Dr Roland Kersten, said the foundation was established to support medical research and medical development projects across the world.
He said the foundation decided to support KATH with the machines and also sponsor the training of doctors from the sub-region because it believed it would contribute to the development of medicine on the continent.
Better services
The coordinator of the workshop, Dr Akwasi Antwi-Kusi, said with the training, the facility would be in a position to offer better services to its clients and also train other professionals in the field on the continent.
He said the designation of the facility as a regional training centre would also attract more people from the region to the facility.
He thanked the foundation for assisting the hospital with the machines and sponsoring the training of the medical practitioners.