Paediatric anaesthesia in South Africa: a new beginning

Abstract

Children, even if they are very young and small, sometimes need surgery. This necessitates mostly general anaesthesia, sometimes regional anaesthesia, or a combination. As children are different to adults, there have been calls that only people trained and experienced in paediatric anaesthesia should provide anaesthetic services to children. Unfortunately, in South Africa there are hardly appropriately trained anaesthetists to provide adult anaesthesia services.¹ This means that, in many cases, inexperienced practitioners anaesthetise children, even small babies. Add to that the constant shortage of personnel, drugs, equipment, beds and other facilities in hospitals where the majority of patients are managed, and it is clear that children will frequently be at unnecessary high risk when receiving anaesthesia. Possible solutions are to transfer patients to hospitals with appropriate personnel, to train more clinicians, and to provide appropriate support.