Dr Mpoki Ulisubisya, Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Health in Tanzania, will attend this year’s SFAI (Swedish Association of Anaesthesia & Intensive Care) conference in Karlstad, Sweden on the 21-23 of September. Dr Mpoki was one of the first doctors to be trained as an Anaesthesiologist in Tanzania and he will be the main speaker at the symposium in Global Anaesthesia & Intensive Care organised by Life Support Foundation.
– It is an honour and a privilege that Dr Mpoki will attend the 2016 SFAI conference. He will give a unique insight into the practice of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care in Tanzania and globally, and how the specialty adapts when resources are limited, says Dr Tim Baker, Chairman of Life Support Foundation. – We hope that he will enthuse and inspire the SFAI delegates to get involved in Global Anaesthesia & Intensive Care, either to take part in our activities or to become engaged in other global organisations.
Life Support Foundation has a well-established relationship with Dr Mpoki. He was Head of Department at Muhimbili National Hospital in Dar es Salaam when Life Support Foundation began collaborating with Tanzania. He welcomed the partnership with Sweden, and coordinated many of the projects. He also came to Sweden on an exchange visit in 2011.
– Dr Mpoki Ulisubisya is a visionary who sees how projects such as ours can promote the specialty, attract more young doctors into Anaesthesia, and improve quality in the long-term, says Tim Baker.
As well as his recent appointment as Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Health, Dr, Mpoki is President of the Tanzanian equivalent of SFAI, the Society of Anaesthesiologists of Tanzania (SATA). He organised the first two SATA National Anaesthesia Conferences – the first in 2014 and the second in 2015. The third will be in May this year.
– Anaesthesia is a hugely neglected specialty in Tanzania. There are only 20 Anaesthesiologists for a population of almost 50 million. Dr Mpoki has had, and continues to have, a crucial role in raising awareness about Anaesthesia & Intensive Care, coordinating activities on a national level, and improving standards. His importance for the specialty in Tanzania is impossible to overstate, says Tim Baker.
The SFAI conference will include a broad scientific program and many workshops. The local organizing committee is the ANOPIVA Clinic at the Central Hospital in Karlstad and the conference will be held at the CCC. Tim Baker’s expectations for the week are high: 
– I hope to build on our fantastically successful involvement in the SFAI conference in Stockholm 2015. We want to raise awareness about Anaesthesia and Intensive Care globally and in parts of the world where resources are limited. In our symposium we will demonstrate how vital our specialty is for global health and in particular for the ongoing drive to increase and improve global surgery. I hope that more delegates visit our stall, discuss these vital issues with us, come and take part in our symposium, and that this results in more involvement and enthusiasm for Global Anaesthesia & Intensive Care and Life Support Foundation in the years ahead.
