Anaesthesia & Intensive Care
The department of anaesthesia and intensive care at Queen Elizabeth central Hospital (QECH) is dedicated to provide the highest quality specialised anaesthetic and intensive care services to the Malawian population. The department is also involved in training anaesthetic staff at 3 levels;
- specialist training for Doctors
- Bachelors degree for clinical officers
- Diploma in anaesthesia and intensive care offered to medical assistants and nurses.
The department also pioneers research in anaesthesia and intensive care in the country. The department offers supportive supervision for district hospitals and mission and private hospitals across the country.
Comprising specialist anaesthesiologists;- one of whom sub-specialises in pediatric anaesthesia and critical care;
- registrars (trainee anaesthesiologists) and Anaesthetic Clinical officers (ACO);
The department services 20 operating rooms as well a 10 bedded adult Intensive care unit (ICU). On average, 20000 anaesthetics are provided in a month and 60 patients are admitted in the intensive care unit per month.
The dedicated staff is available round the clock, seven days a week to carter to the anaesthesia requirements of patients needing elective and emergency operations as well as those requiring intensive care services. Besides providing adult general surgical and obstetric anaesthetic services for a variety of surgical disciplines, it also offers specialised pediatric anaethesia and intensive care. The team also provide other aspects of patient care such as perioperative management as well as acute pain medicine.
The department strives to be the leading centre of excellence for anaesthetic, pain and intensive care services in the country.