Safe Surgery Innovations in Uganda

How a three-minute checklist, a simple device to measure oxygen in patients’ blood, and a drill cover are improving surgery.

The global burden of disease caused by treatable surgical conditions is twice that of HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined. The solution is simple: more surgeries. 

Yet almost one in three people, mainly the world’s poorest, have no access to surgery. And without access to appropriate equipment and training, a life-saving operation can quickly become a life-threatening one.

In Uganda, we see how the use of a simple pulse oximeter, a cheap drill cover and a basic, three-minute checklist is proving that universal access to essential surgery can be safe and affordable.

In the developed world, 100 percent of all operations carried out today utilise a pulse oximeter. This simple medical device monitors the level of oxygen in a patient’s blood and alerts the staff to any unsafe changes.

Yet, worldwide, there are as many as 70,000 operating rooms that do not have a pulse oximeter. That means around six million lives are at risk every year. The NGO Lifebox has pioneered a cheap and easy-to-use pulse oximeter and is distributing them to hospitals across Uganda to help create safer surgery. Join Dr Javid Abdelmoneim in Uganda to see how these simple tools are bringing safe and affordable surgery to those who would otherwise not be able to afford it.

Watch film here: https://www.aljazeera.com/program/the-cure/2015/8/17/safe-surgery-innovations-in-uganda