Pakistan’s poorest citizens and those living outside of major cities face the greatest challenge in accessing emergency and essential surgical and anesthesia care, according to speakers at Aga Khan University’s 4th Annual Surgical Conference Global Surgery: Bridging the Gap.
The country has an annual deficit of 17 million surgeries , according to the World Journal of Surgery. These include life-saving caesarean sections, orthopaedic surgeries that prevent lifelong disability, and simple
Dr Syed Adeebul Hasan Rizvi was one of the prominent speakers at the conference.
procedures to treat cataracts, clubbed feet and cleft palates that dramatically enhance a person’s quality of life.
“Pakistan suffers from widespread disparities in surgical care caused by geographic, socioeconomic and political dynamics,” said Dr Sadaf Khan, conference chair and an associate professor of surgery at AKU. “These intricate and interlinked challenges are key contributors to the annual backlog of surgical procedures and call for researchers, practitioners, academics and policymakers to come together to develop interdisciplinary, innovative solutions.”
Speakers at the event noted that while the country’s National Health Vision 2016-2025 recognises the need to address such inequalities and inequities in access to healthcare, the strategy doesn’t mention the role of surgery and anesthesia in achieving the country’s public health goals.
This is surprising since the burden of four out of seven of Pakistan’s leading causes of death – cardiovascular diseases, injuries, cancer and diabetes – can be reduced through access to timely, safe and affordable surgeries at different points of a person’s life. Yet, most hospitals outside the country’s major cities lack the infrastructure, trained surgeons and anesthetists, and systems to treat these common diseases and conditions.
Experts at the four-day conference cited The Lancet Commission on Global Surgery’s recommendation of ‘two-hour access’, or the availability of a hospital that can conduct emergency surgeries within two hours. This is particularly important in the case of cardiac illnesses, or cases of life-threatening bleeding often caused by road traffic accidents.
Speakers noted that while ensuring timely access to care is vital, capacity constraints also need to be addressed. While there may be a hospital nearby, it may not have a trained surgeon or an experienced anesthesiologist available. This results in delays in receiving care and leads to a patient and his attendants having to restart the search for a hospital.
They emphasised that district hospitals across the country must have the facilities, processes, systems and manpower to conduct 44 emergency and essential procedures noted in the World Health Organization’s Disease Control Priorities Edition 3. If a hospital is able to perform three procedures: emergency exploration of the abdomen, caesarean section and treatment of open bone fractures then it will have the capability to conduct 28 emergency surgeries, speakers added.
Once these facilities are available, hospitals can then focus on the remaining 16 essential procedures that have the greatest impact on reducing mortality and morbidity, according to the WHO.
The conference included a policy debate on Pakistan’s challenges which saw researchers, academics and policy experts highlight the need for the country to expedite development of its first-ever National Surgical, Obstetric, and Anaesthesia Plan.
Speakers noted that many developing countries had developed and implemented such plans which highlight existing strengths and weaknesses, and enable stakeholders to prioritise steps that can raise the overall performance of the health system.
Dr Sadaf Khan also stated that the health-related Sustainable Development Goals call for specific measures to reduce maternal deaths as well as casualties caused by road traffic accidents. These targets cannot be met without enhancing access to quality surgical and anesthesia care.
The conference hosted a hackathon which brought together professionals from diverse fields to develop new ideas and implementable solutions to solve longstanding problems in the field. The top three proposals at the conference will be hosted by the University’s incubator, i2s, which will guide the teams as they develop pilot projects.
Fourteen workshops were held before the event which saw international and national experts work with surgeons and anesthesiologists from across Pakistan to build capacity in essential and emergency procedures relevant to global surgery.
Prominent speakers and panellists at the event included Indus Health Network CEO Abdul Bari, Professor Farhat Moazzam, who heads the Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation's Centre of Biomedical Ethics and Culture, and Director General, Health, Dr Assad Hafeez.
