NO fewer than 50 surgeons and health care professionals are undergoing training on surgical skills management, says International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Abuja.

Eloi Fillion, ICRC Head of Delegation in Nigeria, who disclosed this on Tuesday, said the training was being done in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Health.

Fillion was speaking at the opening of a three-day surgical skills seminar for the management of weapon wounded casualties in Abuja.

He said the training was aimed at equipping participants with the capacity to handle injuries resulting from weapons such as guns and bomb blasts.

He said armed conflict and violence in Nigeria had become more complex, with injuries caused by a range of weapons, from machetes, guns to explosive devices.

He added that since it seemed there were more weapon related causalities recorded in hospitals, hence the demand for a certain level of expertise and skills to save lives.

According to him, the meeting will be facilitated by two ICRC experts in the area of surgery and trauma management, Dr Khurshid Iqbal from India and Dr Marco Pinna Pintor from Italy.

“The seminar will incorporate field experiences, surgical and anaesthesia techniques, wound management and patient care in precarious environments with limited resources.

“The training will also include practical lifesaving techniques to manage mine injuries, abdominal and thoracic injuries as well as fractures sustained from weapons,’’ Fillion said.

He further stated that between January and June, the ICRC surgical team in the North East had operated no fewer than 3,000 casualties.

Fillion said ICRC initiated the surgical skills seminar in Nigeria in 2012, and over 400 surgeons, nurses and anaesthetists from countries prone to armed conflict and violence had been trained. (NAN)

– Aug. 14, 2018 @ 14:29 GMT |