By Milcah Mathias

Blantyre, November 9, Mana: Society of Anesthesiologists (SOA) Malawi will host a dinner and dance at Amaryllis Hotel in Blantyre on November 15 to raise about MK110 million for 2024 College of Anesthesiologists East, Central and Southern Africa (CANESCA) Annual Regional Conference to be held in Blantyre from December 4 to 6.

The 2nd Annual Regional Scientific Conference will take place at Sunbird Hotel, Blantyre, Malawi, under the theme; Strengthening Anaesthesia Education, Workforce and Well-Being in Africa.

SOA President, Dr. Delia Mabedi told Malawi News Agency (Mana) on Friday that the annual regional conference is aimed at advancing anaesthesia, perioperative care, pain management, and intensive care in East, Central, and Southern Africa.

She therefore appealed to all stakeholders as well as corporate institutions to attend the fundraising dinner and dance and encouraged them to donate any amount towards the December international conference.

“Our budget is quite a lot, about MK110 million, so we need to raise anything towards the budget. We are doing it to fundraise for the conference that we are having from 4 to 6, December. From a range of our activities, we will have examinations on December 4, graduation on December 5 in the morning and in the evening we will have the conference which will end on the December 6,” she added.

Some of the highlight of the fundraising dinner and dance, include a live performance by Armstrong Kalua who is popularly known as African Butter, Onesimus of the romantic hit ‘Controller’, which won Song of the Year Award in the Music Video Africa Awards (MVAA) 2024.

Mabedi who serve as Chief Anesthesiologist at Zomba Central Hospital, said that during the event, anesthesiologists will give a short glimpse of what they do to raise awareness of the profession.

“The SOA is a professional body that was formed to promote the welfare of anesthesiologists. We also train more anesthesiologists on the ground,” she added.

SOA has members in government hospitals, providing health care, promoting education to doctors and other professionals as well as ensuring that safe, high-quality anaesthesia services are available to all Malawians, according to Mabedi.

An anesthesiologist is a physician specializing in giving drugs or other agents to prevent or relieve pain during surgery or other procedures on top of having a wider range of practices that extend beyond anaesthesia for surgery to include pain management and intensive care.