Medical experts have identified inadequate equipment, poor funding, shortage of skilled healthcare personnel and insufficient professional training as major factors fueling airway-related emergencies and preventable deaths in Nigerian hospitals.
The specialists made the assertion at the fourth annual scientific conference of the Society of Specialists in Airway Management (SSAM) in Ilorin, Kwara state, themed, “Towards Improving Safety in Airway Management: A Multidisciplinary Approach”.
The experts said that effective airway management remains a critical component of emergency, surgical and intensive care, warning that failure to promptly secure and maintain a patient’s airway often results in avoidable complications and death.
Delivering a keynote lecture, titled: “Leadership and Innovation in Holistic Airway Care and Safety”, consultant anaesthesiologist and Head of the Department of Anaesthesia and Critical Care at Kibungo Teaching Hospital, Rwanda, Dr. Aderonke Adesiyan, said many airway-related disasters are caused not by a lack of technical expertise but by systemic failures, poor communication, inadequate preparation and weak leadership.
She said about 40 percent of major airway management complications are linked to human-factor issues such as communication breakdown, fixation errors, fatigue, hierarchical barriers and loss of situational awareness.
She called for increased investment in healthcare, stronger leadership and continuous capacity-building programmes to strengthen airway safety systems across health facilities.
Also speaking, the national president of the Society of Specialists in Airway Management and Consultant Paediatric Anaesthesiologist, Dr. Maryrose Osazuwa, described airway management as a multidisciplinary responsibility that requires collaboration among healthcare professionals with varying levels of expertise.
Osazuwa decried the persistent shortage of essential airway equipment and limited access to specialised training, revealing that some healthcare facilities are compelled to reprocess and reuse single-use medical devices due to resource constraints.
In her presentation, Consultant Anaesthesiologist and long-standing member of the European Society of Anaesthesiologists, Dr Ellen O’Sullivan, underscored the importance of multidisciplinary teamwork, simulation-based training, emerging airway technologies and adherence to evidence-based clinical protocols in improving patient outcomes.
Chairman of the Local Organising Committee and Consultant Anaesthesiologist at the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital (UITH), Dr. Kazeem Adegboyega, described airway management as the foundation of emergency medicine, critical care, trauma, obstetric, paediatric and surgical services, warning that inadequate expertise continues to contribute significantly to airway-related morbidity and mortality.
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Similarly, the Chairman of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) in Kwara State, Professor Olusola AbdulRahman Afolabi, called on hospitals to involve airway management specialists in the care of patients undergoing high-risk surgical procedures to enhance patient safety and improve treatment outcomes.
Speaking as Special Guest of Honour, the Permanent Secretary of the Kwara State Ministry of Health, Dr Taoheed Abdullahi Ayodeji, reaffirmed the state government’s commitment to strengthening the healthcare workforce through capacity building, improved infrastructure and quality healthcare initiatives.
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