RESEARCH ARTICLE


Current Status of Obstetric Anaesthesia Services (OASIS); A Cross-sectional Survey of Public Hospitals in Khartoum State, Sudan



Sohel M G Ahmed*, 1, Amna Mustafa Ali2, 3, Tayseer Salih Mohamed4, Mohamed Sayed M Hajnour5, 6, Hayat O. Elfil1, Samahir F M Hussein2, 3, Dalia Abdelrahman7, Abdelrahman Eltegani8, 9, Ahmed M A A Abusalab2, Aala F Elhadi10, Amna Eljak11, 12, Hadab Ahmed Mohamed13, 14
1 Hamad General Hospital, Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar
2 Department of Anaesthesia, University of Khartoum, Khartoum, Sudan
3 Soba University Hospital, Khartoum, Sudan
4 Saad Abu Alela Hospital, Khartoum, Sudan.
5 King Khalid University Hospital, Riyadh, KSA
6 King Saud University, Riyadh, KSA
7 Rotunda Maternity Hospital, Dublin, Ireland
8 Alzaaiem Alazhary University, Khartoum, Sudan
9 Alshaab Teaching Hospital, Khartoum, Sudan
10 Rashid Trauma Centre, Dubai, UAE
11 Khartoum Academy Charity Hospital, Khartoum, Sudan
12 University of Technology and Medical Science. Khartoum, Sudan
13 Faculty of Medicine, University of Khartoum, Khartoum, Sudan
14 Department of Anaesthesia, The National Centre for Neurological Sciences (NCNS), Khartoum, Sudan


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Creative Commons License
© 2019 Ahmed et al.

open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode). This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

* Address correspondence to this author at the Hamad General Hospital, Hamad Medical Corporation, PO Box 11340, Doha, Qatar; Tel: +97450586481; Email: sohelm@yahoo.com


Abstract

Background:

Medical services in general, and anaesthetic services in particular, in Sudan have been vulnerable to changes secondary to the socio-economic factors over the last few decades.

Objective:

This cross-state survey aims to identify the current set up of obstetric anaesthesia services in 19 hospitals - representing all public hospitals in Khartoum State with maternity units- and audit them against internationally set standards.

Methodology:

This is a cross-sectional descriptive non-interventional study. Questionnaires- based on the World Federation of Societies of Anaesthesiologists (WFSA) Safe Anaesthesia Standards- were distributed to Anaesthetic departments’ heads at the time of the study (first to fourteenth of May 2016) of 19 public hospitals. This is the total number of public hospitals delivering obstetric services in Khartoum State. All filled out questionnaires were returned (response rate 100%). Collected information/data provided were subsequently entered into an Excel sheet and analysed. Results were tabulated.

Results:

There was a considerable variation in the capacity of the surveyed hospitals in terms of human resources, caseload and set up. Improper utilisation of already deficient anaesthesiologist in covering high load obstetrics services was also noticed. All the hospitals fell short of recommendations for minimum standards set by the World Federation of Societies of Anaesthesiologists (WFSA).

Conclusion:

There is a vast gap between international set standards and the current set up of obstetric anaesthesia in Khartoum State public hospitals. Necessary concerted efforts from governmental, non-governmental and professional bodies are warranted to improve obstetric anaesthetic services in Khartoum State.

Keywords: Obstetrics, Anaesthesia, Setup, State, Hospitals, Khartoum.