A group of medical personnel from the Southern Health Board (SHB) left for Sudan yesterday to help train staff in a major maternity hospital. Infant mortality in the northern African country is 15 times higher than it is in Ireland.
The health board teaching delegation will deliver training in newborn resuscitation and obstetrical emergencies to doctors, midwives and nurses in Omdurman maternity hospital in Khartoum, a 134-bed hospital serving a population of 2.5 million.
The team is headed by SHB consultant neonatologist Dr Tony Ryan and SHB consultant obstetrician/gynaecologist Prof John Higgins. It also includes consultant urogynaecologist Dr Barry O'Reilly and midwives Ms Noreen O'Sullivan and Ms Agnes Phelan.
Prof Ryan said the link between the Southern Health Board and Khartoum hospital and the University of Khartoum came through two Sudanese doctors, consultant paediatrician Dr Sami Ahmed and consultant obstetrician Dr Murshid Ismail, who both work in SHB hospitals in Cork.
"The project came about when my colleague, Dr Sami Ahmed, invited myself and Joanne Ryan, a neonatal resuscitation programme teacher, to Sudan in 2002, where we taught the first resuscitation course.
"We made a commitment then to contribute to the hospital by way of upskilling the staff and establishing formal links with them. Omdurman maternity Hospital lacks basic amenities, equipment and training for medical and midwifery staff."
Prof Ryan said that while there were 16,000 doctors registered in Sudan, only 4,000 doctors were currently working in the country. This meant that there was a deficit in the hospital around developing and maintaining training programmes.
"We've had many Sudanese doctors as members of our team here in Cork's maternity services and feel strongly the imbalance of brain drain between Ireland and Sudan must be addressed, if not directly, at least indirectly by contributing our skills back to the Sudanese people."
