Salary Scale of an Anaesthesiologist in Nigeria, how to become an anesthesiologist in Nigeria.
An anesthesiologist or an anaesthetist is a specialist medical doctor who gives a patient drugs so they do not feel pain when they are undergoing surgery or during any other medical procedure. However, anaesthetist play a much more wider role than just putting people to sleep for surgery. They run our intensive care units, are involved in pain management, and attend to emergency situations.
How to become an anesthesiologist in Nigeria
Anesthesiologists areedical doctors. Like other doctors, they start by taking a 6-year undergraduate degree to get their MBBS, followed by 1 year of horsemanship or internship before another compulsory one year of NYSC. After this, they must complete a further 4 -5 years in an anesthesiology residency program. Finally, they can go on to sit a further examination for certification from the West African College of Physicians or the National Post Graduate College of Physicians to become specialists.
Specialties in Anaesthesiology
A medical doctor that is an anesthesiologist may decide to specialize in any of the following branches of anesthesia:
➡️pain management
➡️cardiac anesthesia
➡️pediatric anesthesia
➡️neuroanesthesia
➡️obstetric anesthesia
➡️critical care medicine
➡️hospice and palliative medicine
What do anesthesiologist do?
Pain relief in surgery
General anesthesia
Sedation
Intubation
They give regional anaesthesia esp spinal anesthesia
Critical care
They run the various intensive care units
They give epidural anaesthesia to help relieve pain in labour.
During surgery, the anaesthetist monitor the vital signs of the patient while the surgeon is at work. These vital signs include:heart rate, and rhythm, respiratory rate (breathing),blood pressure , body temperature and fluid balance
However, the anesthesiologist does not physically provide most anesthetics. They supervise either a certified registered nurse anaesthetist (CRNA) or Anesthesia technicians while they provide the anesthetic. CRNAs often work independently without supervision as well depending on the situation.
Why should patients care about anesthesia during surgery ?
Your anesthesiologist allows you to undergo surgery safely and comfortably. Anesthetists use specialized techniques during surgery to accomplish this. For example, the method of controlled lowering of the blood pressure during hip surgery reduces bleeding and the need for transfusions.
Good pain management is obviously desirable from the patients’ perspective. Good pain management also helps patients perform physical therapy and leads to better surgical outcomes after many orthopedic procedures. Good pain management may reduce the rate of heart attacks and other postoperative complications.
Salary Scale of an Anaesthesiologist in Nigeria
How much are anaesthetist doctors or anesthesiologists paid in Nigeria? The salary of a senior consultant Anaesthesiologist in Nigeria is around #750,000 – #1,200,000 Naira monthly before tax and around #700,000 – #900,000 monthly after tax (take home). A senior registrar (Senior resident doctor) in anaesthesia earns about #450,000 Naira monthly while a junior registrar (junior resident doctor in Anaesthesia is paid around #300,000 – 350,000 Naira monthly.
Anaesthetists are the doctors that run many private hospitals surgical cases, so the earn extra cash from private practice and from some special or highly skilled procedure they perform. There are calls from many quarters to the Nigerian government to increase the salary of anaesthesiologists and doctors generally.
Sources:
Medical News Today
HSS.Edu
Image Credit: Gramho.com
