The Cry Of The Certified Registered Anaesthetist

Behind every successful surgery lies the Anaesthetist, but behind a successful anaesthesia lie the Anaesthetist and God.

A profession that is only dependent on itself and God.

The people around us don't know how we navigate, so when we get stuck, they just fold their arms and look at us like watching a Hindi Movie with a subtitle.We are the professionals who work from head to toe of the patient. We work with all the clinical health professionals; General surgeons, ENT specialists, orthopedic surgeons, neurologists, obstetricians, gynaecologists, paediatricians and nurses etc.

We care for our patients even when they are not aware.

We leave our families at all times to take care of the patient.

We stop eating sometimes to serve the patient.

This profession has created a vast distance between us and our social life and today friends and relatives don't know where to place us, as to whether we are still with them or not.

Lots of clinicians who get stuck in the discharge of their duties look for us.

We are not Phlebotomists, yet we are masters in entering veins.

We are not pharmacists, yet we manipulate drugs.

We are not magicians, but we reverse the actions of drugs.

We are not God but we can 'kill' and resurrect the patient any time we want.

Yes, you sleep and wake up with the alarm, but we bet you, when we put you to sleep, no degree of noise and pains can wake you up until we do so ourselves.

That moment when the patient is put on the operating theatre table, his entire life is in our hands. Surgeon can wait for a second opinion, but the Anaesthetist cannot.

When we look at ourselves, the services we render to people and how the country treats us, we sit back and cry.

Why do we cry?

We cry because our country does not recognize us.

We cry because we are always at risk of inhaling poisonous gases.

We cry because, even the patients we serve don't know us.

We cry because we give everyone anaesthesia, but no one can give us anaesthesia.

We cry because there is no anesthesia template in the peer review that goes on among health facilities in the country.

We cry because when the country is awarding the best practitioners, she doesn’t even think we exist.

We cry because we don't know who speaks for us in the hospitals, regional and national.

We cry because we do not take part in any of the health teams in the country.

We cry because, though we are the heart of surgery in the country, we are not part of the managers and don't take part in any decisions and plans in relation to surgeries in the hospitals.

We cry because, when there is glory after surgery, it goes to the surgical team. But when there are complications and death, they come to us. The certified registered anaesthetists have fought and worked in pains and tears.

We have on several occasions suffered injustice in our own country.

We are ridiculed, humiliated and intimidated in our own country.

Our grievances have always been taken for granted because our country thinks we are toothless. Hey, we are the architectural brain behind all surgeries, we are the sovereign rulers and monarchs of all we survey in the theatre. We decide when surgery must commence. We speed up or slow surgeries.

Yes, we are the heart of surgeries across the globe of which no one can take from us.

We are losing trust in our country.

We are stuck in the mud. We have no hope but we leave our families at odd hours to serve our country.

No stakeholder speaks for us or gives us a good condition of service to work with. Upon all these wanton bitterness, we will never spit fire and revenge until our voices are heard without screaming. We will not.

Out of pains, we have shouted and screamed but our country doesn't listen to us.

We have knocked on several doors, but no one seems to respond, let alone, let us in.

We have complained of hunger and thirst, and not even a drop of water has been provided.

We are tired of running, but nowhere to rest. Out of frustrations, we have come together and held our hands together as we wait patiently in expectations.

Like manna fell from the heavens, maybe one day the country will hear our cry.

Maybe there will be new life and hope. Maybe we will be given a place to rest. Maybe we will be one of the policy makers. Our hands are tied at our back, but it doesn't discourage us.

They have closed our eyes, but we haven’t lost our vision.

We will never be quit.

We will not sleep.

We will never rest.

We will not stop.

We will not be discouraged, until we are declared winners.

For those who say you can’t imagine life without electricity, have you also thought of life without anesthesia?

Long live Certified Registered Anaesthetist.

Long live Ghana Association of certified registered Anaesthetist