AKTH’s Trauma Centre and Helipad
By Salisu Na’inna Dambatta
Construction is steadily progressing on a multi-storey Emergency Trauma Department at the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital (AKTH), Kano, Nigeria.
The Chief Medical Director (CMD) of the hospital, Professor Abdurrahman Abba Sheshe, said that the multi-billion Naira facility will be fully equipped upon completion to provide critical life support and emergency services to traumatised citizens.
Indeed, a teaching hospital in the class of the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital deserves to have “advanced, reliable medical equipment to manage critical injuries, polytrauma, and acute medical emergencies.”
Examples of equipment essential in modern emergency and trauma centres, as indicated in searches on the Internet, include high-resolution portable ultrasound machines for eFAST exams (Extended Focused Assessment with Sonography for Trauma).
For resuscitation and airway management, advanced ICU-grade mechanical ventilators are required to support patients with acute respiratory failure or severe traumatic brain injury (TBI).
Video laryngoscope gadgets are required for rapid, visualization-guided endotracheal intubation in difficult airways during trauma management.
Multifunctional defibrillators and crash carts, which are equipped with external pacing, synchronized cardioversion, and ECG monitoring capabilities, are also part of the equipment the CMD had in mind.
Heavy-duty, high-flow portable and wall-suction units for clearing airways of blood, vomit, or secretions should be in the inventory for an emergency and trauma centre.
Advanced multiparameter patient monitors for continuous tracking of ECG, non-invasive/invasive blood pressure, pulse oximetry, capnography (End-Tidal CO2), and core body temperature are likely to be provided at the trauma centre.
A mobile digital portable X-ray machine used in immediate bedside chest and pelvic radiographs without moving unstable patients is another essential tool.
So are point-of-care blood gas and chemistry analyzers that provide arterial blood gas (ABG), electrolytes, lactate, and hemoglobin results within minutes.
There is also a need for a 12-lead ECG machine deployable for the rapid ruling-out or confirmation of acute myocardial infarction in patients at such centres.
As is standard, teaching hospitals must have equipment to handle all segments or demographics of the population simultaneously. For this reason, the trauma centre requires features such as Broselow tapes/carts, pediatric-specific lines, tubes, and an infant radiant warmer to cater to traumatised children.
Because eyes, ears, nose, and throat could be points of trauma, ophthalmic and ENT diagnostic equipment—such as slit lamps, ophthalmoscopes, otoscopes, and Morgan lenses for eye irrigation—should equally be available at the trauma centre.
The requirements for a trauma centre run into hundreds, including decontamination station equipment for chemical, biological, or radiological exposures, as well as emergency eyewash stations and chemical-resistant drapes.
The trauma centre will have dozens of beds, its own pharmacy, emergency operation suites, a detachment of ambulances manned by skilled paramedics, constant electricity, and a stable potable water supply.
The CMD noted that a distinguishing feature of the new complex is a rooftop helipad designed for fast and timely air ambulance access. Thus, AKTH will have a Helicopter Emergency Medical Services (HEMS) capability.
The Helicopter Emergency Medical Services (HEMS) will ensure that patients requiring urgent, life-saving trauma care can be speedily airlifted to the hospital and treated. This is significant in a country with a record of serious road accidents, attacks by insurgents, and communal conflicts.
By the provision of this helipad, AKTH joins a group of less than ten tertiary public and private hospitals in Nigeria with dedicated aerial patient transport facilities. It is truly transformative.
AKTH has a fleet of ambulances equipped with life-support facilities akin to standard mobile intensive care units, while the helipad under construction will provide an air ambulance capability to the hospital.
This is in line with the commitment by our national healthcare planners, led by the Coordinating Minister for Health and Social Welfare, Professor Muhammad Ali Pate, to ensure that world-class emergency services become widely available in the country.
Salisu Na’inna Dambatta is a retired Federal Director of Information.
