BY  CHIOMA OBINNA

Experts who gathered at the 2011 launching of the Global Year Against Pain organised by the Society For the Study of Pain in Nigeria (SSPN) in Lagos has lamented the poor management of pain, saying pain has remained under reported and treated in Nigeria.

The National President of SSPN, Dr. Matthew Olaogun stressed the need to prevent chronicated pain by paying the right early attention to acute pain.

Olaogun who observed the fact that untreated pain is quite real in the country explained that “When pain is concentrated, there has been the report of abuse of pain killers which is often overdosed and for which death has been reported”.

He explained that the focus of the 2011 Global Year Against Acute Pain was to educate stakeholders that the reasons for under treatment of pain are many but they are researchable as well as disseminate information about acute pain, increase awareness of acute pain in surgery trauma and acute infections amongst others.

He called on governments, research institutions and other key decision makers to support more research in order to produce more effective and accessible treatment methods and outcomes for acute pain.

In his lecture entitled; “Acute Pain Management in Nigeria: Addressing the Gaps”, renowned Pain Specialist and former president of SSPN, Prof. Olaitan Soyannwo, who noted that although some progress has been made in the education of those responsible for the management of pain in Nigeria, there is still a lot to do to ensure that the right to treatment for all those in pain is fulfilled.

Soyannwo who condemned the bureaucratic bottlenecks that had continued to delay the importation and accessibility of pain killers like Opioids stressed the need for all those involved in the dispensing process of the drugs to be above board so as to save the lives of those dying in pains of cancer and other pain related problems.

Soyannwo stated that poor pain management puts patients at increased risk, creates needless suffering,increases costs of care, and may lead to chronic pain development with consequent health care costs

She identified under treatment of acute pain and failure to provide proactive pain plans as major hindrance to pain management in Nigeria

Dismissing the notion that women in labour do not require pain killers, she regretted that although 85 per cent of women would request analgesia in labour if it were available, majority are still left to suffer unnecessarily. She said no harm is done by using pain killers in obstetric pain.

On gaps, she blamed it on problems related to poor knowledge, lack of education, poor attitude, clinical inertia, opiophobia, lack of awareness, myths, cultural beliefs, tendency to accept pain, low priority, drug unavailability, practice restrictions, No proactive plans, lack of audit and research funding amongst others.