Global Anaesthesia Series: Episode 2, Working at the BKL Walawalkar hospital in Dervan
In this episode of Anaesthesia on Air, Dr Jan Man Wong and Dr Fiona Linton talk to Dr Sanjay Deshpande and Dr Anna Wilkinson about their experiences at the BKL Walawalker Hospital in Dervan. They cover everything from handling scorpion bites and improving sharps disposal practices, to some of the bittersweet professional connections they made with hospital staff. Sanjay and Anna describe how the BKL Walawalker partnership began, and give advice for trainees coming to Dervan and similar locations.
Global Anaesthesia, Surgery, and Obstetric Collaboration (GASOC) was established in 2015 to signpost trainees to information and resources to further their knowledge, engagement, and experience in this field.
The global anaesthesia podcast miniseries features past and current trainees working or volunteering in resource-poor environments including India, Zambia, Uganda, and Ethiopia, plus their in-country and remote educational supervisors (RES), each bringing their own perspectives. For trainees, an international placement can form the SIA (Special Interest Area) part of their training.
Contact details:
- RCoA Global Partnerships team: global@rcoa.ac.uk
- GASOC team: gasocanaesthesia@gmail.com
- X (formerly Twitter) @gasoc_2015
Links:
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(Recorded August 2023)
Dr Jan Man Wong is an ST6 trainee at Great Ormond Street Hospital. She qualified from Norwich Medical School in 2013 and trained in anaesthetics in London since then. Her interests are in paediatric and obstetric anaesthesia as well as improving postgraduate education.
Jan is one of the two UK Anaesthetic Representatives at GASOC (Global Anaesthesia Surgery Obstetric Collaboration), a co-opted member of the Global Partnership Committee.
Dr Fiona Linton qualified from Cardiff University in 2009. She is an anaesthetics registrar, currently ST5, in the Wessex Deanery.
She has undertaken 4 previous trips with Mercy Ships, which further inspired her interest in global surgery and anaesthesia. She is one of the UK GASOC (Global Anaesthesia, Surgery and Obstetric Collaboration) Anaesthetic representatives and was involved with organising their annual international conference last year.
Dr Sanjay Deshpende is a Consultant in Anaesthetics and ICM at South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS FT, UK.
Sanjay is passionate about global work and has been conducting annual medical camps at the BKL Walawalkar Medical College and Hospital, Dervan in India since 2006. This project has grown leaps and bounds and is recognised for Electives for medical students in the UK, OOPE for surgical trainees, and OOPT for anaesthetic trainees. Sanjay has support from medical and nursing staff including trainees and medical students, which has enabled charity status in the UK since 2009. There are publications, and presentations achieved following these trips in reputed journals, and national and international forums.
Dr Anna Wilkinson is an ST6 Anaesthetist in the West of Scotland.
Anna qualified in 2012 from the University of Dundee and completed a Diploma of Tropical Medicine in Liverpool after finishing foundation training. Her first work abroad was initially in Panama with the charity Floating Doctors as a medical volunteer, and then as a Lead Medical Doctor. Anna later spent 9 months in rural South Africa as a medical officer in a low-resource hospital which sparked an interest in obstetric anaesthetic care. After completing core training in Tayside, she embarked on a 3-month anaesthetic fellowship in rural Dervan (Maharashtra, India) and then a 10-week teaching and leadership position with Mercy Ships in Senegal, delivering teaching packages to introduce the WHO Surgical Safety Checklist. Although still exploring all her areas of interest within the field of anaesthesia, Anna has a particular interest in obstetric anaesthesia, and is a trainee representative for the Obstetric Anaesthetists’ Association.
In her spare time, Anna enjoys exploring Scotland, which includes hiking and swimming in lochs and coastal waters.