Mobile Anaesthetic Practice – a Nigerian ( 10 Years ) Experience in Niger - Delta

The surgical needs of our environment have necessitated an increased demand for quality/improved anaesthetic care; where local anaesthetic techniques would not suffice. Also increased awareness amongst the populace has brought about this need. The need to improve the indices of maternal and child morbidity and mortality which in international circles are presently yardsticks of measuring development among developing nations has acted as the catalyst for ensuring safety amongst these very vulnerable class of persons. With these factors in view especially with the availability of scarce anaesthetic manpower and resources, government and private individual and even NGOs are asking for improved anaesthetic services. My experience of mobile anaesthetic service provision over the past ten years as an anaesthetist is my little way of bringing health care to the doorstep of the people in southsouth Nigeria. The procedures undertaken were mainly obstetric, gynecological, general surgical, minor neurosurgical, urology and minor thoracic surgeries. The techniques adopted were regional and general anaesthesia using a portable Boyle’s machine and accessories. Recommendations derived from this experience are as follows 1)hospitals work within the limitation of manpower resources .2)Availability of anaesthetic register and contact maintained especially in emergencies .3)Referral systems be made use of .4)With the availability of mobile complete anaesthetic unit purchase of anaesthetic machines may be unnecessary in small hospitals as they often go bad from disuse.5)More health workers need training in basic life support, advanced cardiac life support , advanced trauma life support and acute life threatening events recognition and treatment (ALERT) courses. These should be incorporated into medical curriculum.