Lancet commissions set the key messages on global surgery.
- 5 billion people do not have access to safe, affordable surgical and anesthesia care when needed.
- An additional 143 million surgical procedures are needed in Low and Middle Income Countries every year to save lives and prevent disability.
- 33 million individuals face catastrophic health expenditure due to payment for surgery and anesthesia every year.
- Investment in surgical and anesthesia services is affordable, saves lives, and promotes economic growth.
- Surgery is an indivisible, indispensable part of health care.
The current situation is that 228 skilled healthcare professionals in a population of 100,000 are necessary to reach essential health targets.
But if we take a workforce density of 20/100,000 as the minimum required and 40/100,000 as the optimal workforce density.
Different strategies have been set for years to improve this situation. External help such as the presence of surgical NGOs and visiting teams provides a significant amount of
surgical and anesthesia care in many low and mid income countries, but this help is not enough.
Because of this, different local strategies such as task sharing and task shifting are used.
Some recommendations are made by Lancet commissions.
- Data should be recorded
- Health plans must be developed in order to achieve workforce densities of 20-40 in a population of 100,000 by 2030.
- Training programs should be supervised.
- Training programs should be accredited.
- Access to a reliable Internet connection, information and training is needed.
- NGOs should work in partnership with local institutions.
