Kumasi, Jan. 12, GNA - The second annual KATH Anaesthesia refresher course opened in Kumasi on Wednesday.

The course, which has at its topic "Obstetrics and Paediatric Anaesthesia" is being organised by the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) in collaboration with the University of Utah in the United States of America.

Selected nurse anaesthetists from KATH, regional and district as well as mission hospitals throughout the country are attending the course.

Opening it, Dr Anthony Nsiah Asare, Chief Executive Officer of the KATH, said nurse anaesthetists played a vital role in the health care delivery.

He said the refresher course was in fulfilment of the mandate of the KATH, which trained nurse anaesthetists, to upgrade the knowledge and skills of its products on new developments in the area to help improve their efficiency.

Dr Nsiah Asare appealed to the participants to take the course seriously to help improve anaesthetic care in the country. Dr Gabriel Boakye, Head of Directorate of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care at the KATH, said the purpose of the course was not only for the participants to share and exchange ideas, but also to learn new developments in the field in order to change the old practices and habits that were at variance with the current practices.

He said the introduction of the National Health Insurance Scheme, placed a challenge on anaesthetists to provide the quality health services envisaged under the new scheme and urged the participants to take the course seriously to upgrade their skills.

Dr Boakye who is also the Director of Nurse Anaesthetists Training School at the KATH, thanked the University of Utah for the support and said KATH would continue to collaborate with it to provide avenues and opportunities to nurse anaesthetists to continue to upgrade their knowledge and skills to meet the task ahead.

Dr Jeff Peters, Head of the Utah team, said the university was in the process of establishing an exchange programme for anaesthetics teachers in Ghana to be trained in Utah and certified in basic life support programmes.

He said the refresher course would enable the participants to learn new ways and developments in anaesthesia administration.