adminNokusa Masuku Chronicle Reporter
THE Zimbabwe Anaesthetics Association has set up distance learning centres to train more professionals following revelations that about 90 percent of the country’s qualified anaesthetists work in Harare.
The situation has created a serious shortage of anaesthetic doctors in the rest of the country.
Anaesthetists are responsible for putting patients to sleep before they undergo an operation.
The Zimbabwe Anaesthetics Association’s coordinator for Bulawayo Phinot Moyo yesterday told Chronicle that there are 56 registered anaesthetists in Zimbabwe and more than 50 are based in Harare.
“For every hospital where there is a theatre, there should be an anaesthetist. For a start, at least all provincial hospitals should have one,” said Moyo.
He said as an association of specialists they have come up with an initiative of training more anaesthetists.
“We used to send people to Harare for training but after four of five years of training, they don’t come back. Instead of sending people to train in Harare, they will train through the College of Anaesthesiologists of East, Central and Southern Africa (CANECSA).
“CANECSA was launched this year and possibly next year first students will enroll. They will train where they are and they will be working at the same time and there won’t be any need for them to relocate to another city or country. There are central points for writing exams and students will be required to go for attachment in one of the countries where there is CONECSA,” said Moyo.
He said the government had done its part by providing equipment as a way of improving patient management in an environment that lacks resources needed by anaesthesiologists.
However, he added that equipment without trained personnel was useless.
Meanwhile, on Thursday there was a joint Anaesthetic Association and Paedriatic Association congress at a local hotel in honour of the first black anaesthesiologist Sipho Zwana who retired last year after 52 years of service.
They also did a community social responsibility activity at Mpilo Central and United Bulawayo Hospitals (UBH).
Minor procedures were carried out on children free of charge.
Premier Services Medical Investments, New Avakash and ZB Bank among other institutions, sponsored the annual event.
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