Letter to the Editor
Density of Peruvian anesthesiologists in 2020
Carlos Javier Shiraishi-Zapataa
*
a Servicio de Centro Quirúrgico y Anestesiología, Hospital EsSalud Talara, Piura, Perú.
Dear Editor
It was with significant interest that I reviewed the Chapter entitled "Anesthesia and Analgesia in the Global Context," published in the last edition of the book Miller's Anesthesia. The article makes a practical review of the practice of anesthesiology in Colombia and Paraguay, under the South American section.1 However, the intro duction claims that Peru has the lowest density of anesthesia specialists in South America (1.7 per every 100,000 inhabitants). Such rate was estimated using a global survey conducted between 2015 and 2016. The survey was addressed to the National Societies of Anesthesiology in 150 countries (see third column, Table 1).2
Table 1 Density of anesthesiologists per every 100,000 inhabitants in the Latin American and Caribbean countries.
* Countries in South America.
† Information updated to 2020 collected from Ref.3 with regard to Ref.2 published in 2017 (both surveys conducted by the World Federation of Societies of Anesthesiologists-WFSA).
Source: Author based on WFSA,3 Holmer et al,4 MinSalud Argentina,5 Scheffer,6 MinSalud Chile,7 Government of Colombia,8 Heinze-Martin.9
Table 1 shows that the lowest and highest density in Latin America and the Caribbean is found in Haiti and Cuba, respectively. However, according to the source, it is obvious that there is a significant difference in terms of the densities in Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, and Mexico. Such discrepancy in the figures should be approached through further research to clarify the information.
With regard to the density of Peruvian anesthesiolo gists, it must be highlighted that although the number of members of the Peruvian Society of Anesthesia, Analgesia and Resuscitation was 1150 in 2019,10 in accordance with the current records of the Peruvian Medical College, there are 2305 practicing anesthesiologists (general and sub-specialized).11 Considering that the Peruvian population is 32,824,358 inhabitants,12 the resulting rate is of 7 special ists per every 100,000 inhabitants in 2020. The difference in the number of specialists could be the result of the fact that the membership of the national society is not mandatory, but registration with the college and registra tion before the Peruvian Medical College is mandatory to be able to practice medicine throughout the country (primary care and all specialties).13
References
1. Lipnick MS, Miller RD, Gelb AW. Gropper MA, Cohen NH, Eriksson LI, et al. Chapter 2, Anesthesia and analgesia in the global context. Miller's anesthesia 9th ed. Canada: Elsevier; 2020;10-56.
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2. Kempthorne P, Morriss WW, Mellin-Olsen J, et al. The WFSA global anesthesia workforce survey. Anesth Analg 2017;125:981-990.
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3. WFSA. World anaesthesiology workforce [internet[. 2020. Avail able at: Avail able at: https://www.wfsahq.org/workforce-map
. [Cited 1 abr, 2020[.
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4. Holmer H, Lantz A, Kunjumen T, et al. Global distribution of surgeons, anaesthesiologists, and obstetricians. Lancet Glob Health 2015;3:S9-S11.
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5. Ministerio de Salud de la Nación. Análisis de la distribución geográfica de médicos especialistas en la Republica Argentina [internet[. 2015. Available at: Available at: https://pesquisa.bvsalud.org/portal/resource/pt/biblio-884869?lang=es
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6. Scheffer MC, Guilloux AGA, Matijasevich A, et al. The state of the surgical workforce in Brazil. Surgery 2017;161:556-561.
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7. Ministerio de Salud de Chile. Subsecretaría de Redes Asistenciales. División de Gestión y Desarrollo de las Personas. Departamento de Planificación y Control de Gestion de RHS. Informe sobre brechas de personal de salud por servicio de salud. 2017; Available at: Available at: https://www.minsal.cl/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Informe-Brechas-RHS-en-Sector-P%C3%BAblico_Abril2017.pdf
. [Cited: 1 abr, 2020[.
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8. Gobierno de Colombia. Ministerio de Salud y Protección Social. Indicadores de Talento Humano Sector Salud. 2018; Available at: Available at: https://www.datos.gov.co/Salud-y-Protecci-n-Social/INDICADORES-TALENTO-HUMANO-SECTORSALUD/7rp7-atms
. [Cited: 1 abr, 2020[.
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9. Heinze-Martin G, Olmedo-Canchola VH, Bazán-Miranda G, et al. Medical specialists in Mexico. Gac Med Mex 2018;154:342-351.
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10. Sociedad Peruana de Anestesia, Analgesia y Reanimación. Actualidad y noticias: "Se realizo Asamblea General de Asociados durante el XXVIII Congreso Peruano de Anestesiología". 2019; Available at: Available at: https://www.spaar.org.pe/se-realizo-asamblea-general-de-asociados-durante-el-xxviii-congreso-peruano-de-anestesiologia/
. [Cited: March 21, 2020[
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11. Colegio Médico del Perú. Servicios: Aplicativo "Conoce a tu médico". 2018; Disponible en: Disponible en: https://www.cmp.org.pe/conoce-a-tu-medico/
. [Cited: 21 mar, 2020[.
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12. Instituto Nacional de Estadística e Informática del Perú. Sistemas de consulta. Series nacionales [internet[. 2020. Available at: Available at: http://webapp.inei.gob.pe:8080/sirtod-series/
. [Cited: 21 mar, 2020[.
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13. Colegio Médico del Perú. Reglamento del Colegio Médico del Perú [internet[. 2018. Available at: Available at: https://www.cmp.org.pe/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/REGLAMENTO-DEL-COLEGIO-M%C3%89DICODEL-PER%C3%9A-1-Art.149-Nov-2018.pdf
. [Cited: 21 mar, 2020[.
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