Can primary health care staff be trained in basic life-saving surgery?

Abstract

The following article by Leet et al advocates training rural PHC staff in basic emergency surgery in those areas of South Sudan where there is no access to secondary or tertiary level facilities (i.e. surgical task-shifting). Based on their experience, the authors describe and recommend the type of on-the-job training that they feel is most suitable for this level of staff.

Task-shifting at this time in South Sudan is a controversial topic and is not presently government policy. Please send us your views and tell us if you agree with the authors of this article. For example: Can rural middle level non-medical health staff be trained to safely carry out basic emergency surgical procedures? If so, what type of training is best? Should there be a recognized curriculum and accreditation? What further information would you like the authors to provide? Is your organisation training non-medical health staff in surgery (or other medical procedures)? If so, what are the results? Write to the editor at: opikiza@yahoo.com