KATH gets training equipment for emergency centre

Kumasi, April 14, GNA - The Saint Francis Hospital in Milan, Italy, has provided equipment worth about 40,000 Euros to support training at the newly constructed Accident and Emergency Centre (A&EC) of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) in Kumasi. Additionally, KATH authorities are in the process of seeking accreditation from the American Heart Association, to enable the A&EC to serve as an international training centre in the West African sub-region.

Dr Anthony Nsiah-Asare, Chief Executive Officer, announced these at the opening of the ninth annual conference on update in anaesthesia, in Kumasi on Tuesday.

Nurse anaesthestists and doctors from regional and district hospitals throughout the country were attending the event, which was organised by the KATH in collaboration with the University of Utah. The two-day refresher course, under the theme "updates in anaesthetic and cardio pulmonary resuscitation", was aimed at building the capacities of participants in basic life support to cope with the increasing cardiovascular emergencies and trauma-related cases in the country. It would also build their capacities in modern anaesthesia techniques to improve surgery.

Dr Nsiah-Asare said user training courses had started at the A&EC for all workers and that the main training would start from August, this year.

He said apart from specialized treatment of accident and emergency cases, the A&EC would offer training in advanced and acute trauma and basic life support for all health professionals in the West Africa sub-region.

It would again serve as a research centre and provide training support to the national ambulance service. Dr Nsiah-Asare said the hospital authorities were advocating for the anaesthesists training school at the hospital to be turned into a degree awarding institution, to help improve anaesthetic practice in the country.

He said the annual training programme was to offer opportunity for nurse anaesthetists to update their skills and improve on their performance. Alhaji Dr Mohammed Bin Ibrahim, Ashanti Regional Director of Health Services, commended the KATH authorities for initiating measures to improve the capacities of health professionals in all hospitals in the country.

He said it was important for anaesthetists to frequently update their skills since they played very important roles in trauma management in operating theatres.

Dr Gabriel Boakye, Head of Directorate of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care at KATH, said there was the need for regular update of the knowledge of nurse anaesthetists who provided bulk of anaesthetic services in the country. He commended the University of Utah for providing medical equipment, drugs, books and teaching materials worth 1.3 million dollars to the directorate over the past ten years. 14 April 09