The Medical Director, National Orthopedic Hospital (NOH) Enugu, Prof. Emmanuel Iyidobi has said that the hospital would serve as hub for regional anesthetic surgery treatment in West Africa.
Iyidobi said this during a 2-day training workshop for medical professionals drawn from across the South-East, South-South, North Central and outside Nigeria, and West-African held at the hospital in Enugu on Tuesday. He said the use of ultrasound guided vascular access anesthetic blocks is safe for a wide range of orthopedic and plastic surgeries.
The medical director also said that the use of ultrasound guided regional anesthetic blocks is safe and good for management of acute and chronic pain.
NewsBits reports that ultrasound guided vascular access and peripheral nerve blocks is a kind of medication that helps doctors identify and access nerves more easily and reduces the risk of accidentally puncturing unintended veins or arteries during surgery. While regional anesthetic is the use of medicines to block pain from an area of the body.
Commenting on the essence of the training, Iyidobi noted that the hospital was determined to serve as a regional hub for regional anesthetic surgery in West Africa while keying into the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Tinubu led administration. According to him, “This training is basically training for regional anesthesia. Regional anesthesia is the form of anesthesia that you give to a patient before you start an operation.
“Regional in the sense that you will not make that patient sleep; but you just knock out the area where you are going to operate on the patient and the patient will not feel pain. So, after this training, we expect that people in the South-East, South-South, North-Central region, and indeed West-African should be able to access regional anesthesia and surgery in this hospital.”
Earlier, the Training Coordinator, Dr T.J. Kozo said the hospital was well-positioned and well-equipped to serve as a regional centre for anesthetic surgery and treatment in West Africa.
“Some patients that will come with acute pain being walked up for surgery, with the aid of the ultrasound block, we will be able to take care of the patient’s pain while the patient is being prepared for surgery,” he said.
A consultant anaesthetist, from Delta State University Teaching Hospital, Dr Odukuye Rukevwe, harped on the need for medical professionals to tap into the emerging dynamics in medicine while ensuring optimal safety precautions.
“In order to do these surgeries, the doctor must be very vigilant and safe. One of the safety mechanisms that we have put in place is what we are doing today, the use of ultrasound scans in administering regional anesthetic blocks,” Rukevwe said.
One of the participants, Dr. Jonathan Eya, appreciated the medical consultants for the transfer of knowledge as well as commended the hospital management for making the workshop cost-free. The training, organized by the Department of Anesthesia, National Orthopedic Hospital (NOH), Enugu, in collaboration with Skill Transfer Network, is themed: ”Ultrasound Guided Vascular Access and Peripheral Nerve Blocks”.
