Nigeria risks a return to the critical-care difficulties experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic unless it urgently strengthens its intensive-care system, the vice chancellor of the Federal University of Health Sciences, Ila Orangun, Osun State, Professor Akeem Lasisi, has warned.
Lasisi, a Professor of Otorhinolaryngology, raised the alarm in Ibadan while delivering the keynote address at the 70th birthday and valedictory programme of Associate Professor Arinola Sanusi, organised by the Department of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care, University of Ibadan (UI) and University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan.
He said research on intensive-care services in Nigeria revealed serious limitations in the country’s ICU capacity, including inadequate beds and ventilators, and stressed that the findings should compel policymakers and professional bodies to demand greater investment in critical care.
According to Lasisi, the country’s critical-care “underbelly” was exposed during the COVID-19 pandemic, demonstrating the consequences of inadequate infrastructure and limited specialist capacity.
He spoke while delivering a lecture titled ‘The Silent Sentinel behind the Drapes: A Surgeon’s Tribute to Four Decades of Partnership in the Shadow of the Laryngoscope’, in honour of Sanusi’s four decades of service in medicine.
Lasisi said research capable of informing healthcare policy should receive greater attention, arguing that evidence from studies on Nigeria’s ICU capacity could help guide government decisions and improve the country’s preparedness for future health emergencies.
He said he reviewed about 55 of Sanusi’s publications and found that approximately half documented research involving critically ill patients, while about 30 percent focused on specialisedanaesthesia.
He singled out her review of ICU services in Nigeria as particularly significant because of what it revealed about the country’s critical-care capacity.
The vice chancellor also described Sanusi as a “trainer of trainers”, urging younger doctors and mentors to draw lessons from her approach to patient care, professional education, research and service.
At the occasion, speakers, including the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academics) of the University of Ibadan, Professor JuwonArotiba; Chief Medical Director of University College Hospital, Ibadan, Professor Jesse Otegbayo; secretary of the West African College of Surgeons, DrMuyiwaRotimi; and chairman of the Medical and Dental Consultants Association of Nigeria, Professor James Balogun, among others, highlighted Sanusi’s contributions to anaesthesia, critical care, medical education and professional development.
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