To mark 30 years of WFSA Fellowships, we hear from past fellows about how the experience has shaped their anaesthesiology practice and influenced the care they provide.
When Helen arrived at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in New Delhi as a WFSA thoracic anaesthesia fellow in 2025, she came with determination, curiosity, and very limited prior exposure to thoracic anaesthesia. Six months later, she leaves with confidence, hands-on experience in complex cases, and a clear plan for how to apply what she has learned back home in Ghana.
Helen is among the first five young cardiothoracic anaesthesiologists being trained in Ghana. In her country, cardiothoracic and thoracic anaesthesia are not separate specialties, and the number of trained specialists is extremely small. Exposure to thoracic cases is limited, and many of the procedures and monitoring tools described in textbooks are simply not available in daily practice. This was the gap Helen hoped the WFSA fellowship would help address.
“I chose the thoracic fellowship because we wanted to see what is done outside Ghana,” she explains. “It gives you a fair view of what thoracic anaesthesia actually is.”
At Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, Helen was placed under the guidance of Dr Jayashree Sood, Fellowship Head and a senior anaesthesiologist with more than four decades of experience at the institution. Dr Sood has been hosting WFSA fellows for nearly nine years and has played a central role in building the hospital’s thoracic anaesthesia training programme.
We need people in this area. If younger doctors see the technical skills involved and the impact you can make, they start to get interested.
—Dr Jayashree Sood, Head, Thoracic Anaesthesia Fellowship, New Delhi
Training in a High-Volume, High-Complexity Setting
Sir Ganga Ram Hospital is a busy tertiary centre with a large thoracic surgical workload. During her fellowship, Helen was exposed to a wide range of cases, including lobectomies, pneumonectomies, oesophageal surgeries, tumour resections, tracheal stenosis, and robotic thoracic procedures. She also rotated through adult cardiac, paediatric cardiac, ICU care, and bronchoscopy suites outside the operating theatre.
One of the most impactful learning experiences for Helen came from managing high-risk thoracic cases. She recalls a patient with an anterior mediastinal mass causing severe airway and vascular compression. The patient’s oxygen saturation was critically low despite supplemental oxygen, and blood gases showed severe acidosis. In preparation, the team arranged Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) standby, placed invasive monitoring lines, and performed an awake fibreoptic intubation before induction.
“The surgery was completed without even reusing ECMO,” Helen says. “The patient was discharged seven days later. That case really stayed with me.”
Another case involved a patient with very high pulmonary pressures undergoing drainage. The procedure began under regional anaesthesia, but as the patient’s condition changed, the team transitioned to airway control using a laryngeal mask airway and safely completed the surgery. These were cases Helen says she would have found extremely difficult to manage independently before the fellowship.
Beyond the Operating Theatre
Dr Sood places strong emphasis on perioperative care and visibility beyond the operating theatre. Fellows are encouraged to see patients preoperatively, introduce themselves, participate in postoperative rounds, and follow patients into the ICU. Helen embraced this approach early on, often joining surgeons on postoperative rounds to overcome language barriers with patients.
“She has been enthusiastic from the very beginning,” Dr Sood says. “She’s doing exactly what I want a fellow to do.”
The fellowship also allowed Helen to observe how a large department functions organisationally. For her, this managerial exposure was as important as the clinical skills.
“The managerial aspect here really stood out,” she explains. “Everything flows. Everyone knows where they are supposed to be and who to go to when there’s a problem. That kind of organisation makes a huge difference.”
Learning to Adapt, With and Without Technology
A major contrast between training in India and practice in Ghana is access to equipment and monitoring. At Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, Helen encountered advanced cardiac output monitors, ECMO, and high-flow oxygen systems that she had previously only read about.
Crucially, the fellowship also helped her understand how to adapt when such tools are not available.
“I learned with the gadgets,” she says, “but I also learned how to think about what to do when you don’t have them, because that’s our reality most of the time.”
She has already begun sharing this knowledge with colleagues back home, including insights into less invasive monitoring techniques and the limitations of certain oxygen delivery systems previously assumed to provide full support.
This programme empowers individual anaesthesiologists in a way that creates a snowball effect for patients and health systems.
—Helen Mbra-Mensah, Fellow, Thoracic Anaesthesia, New Delhi
Bringing the Fellowship Home
Helen is clear about what comes next. When she returns to Ghana, she plans to practise thoracic anaesthesia alongside cardiac anaesthesia with greater independence and confidence. Just as importantly, she plans to train others.
“We have to pass it on,” she says. “We need people in this area. If younger doctors see the technical skills involved and the impact you can make, they start to get interested.”
Dr Sood believes this confidence will translate into real change. “She now has the confidence,” she says. “When she asks for equipment or resources, she will be taken seriously.”
For Dr Sood, hosting WFSA fellows is about more than technical training. It is about building professional identity, discipline, and leadership. Her advice to young anaesthesiologists is simple and consistent: be punctual, know your subject, see your patients before and after surgery, and take responsibility for the full perioperative journey.
As Helen prepares to return home, she does so not only with new skills, but with a broader understanding of what thoracic anaesthesia can be, and how that knowledge can be adapted to her own context. It is exactly the kind of exchange the WFSA fellowship programme was designed to support.
Reflecting on 30 years of WFSA fellowships, Helen says, “This programme empowers individual anaesthesiologists in a way that creates a snowball effect for patients and health systems. For me, it meant more than advanced clinical exposure. Being part of this 30-year legacy means strengthening thoracic anaesthesia services in my country and improving patient safety.’’
She adds, ‘‘To future anaesthesiologists, I would say this is not just training. It sharpens your skills, expands your global perspective, connects you to lifelong mentors, and sends you home ready to teach, advocate, and help build stronger systems.”
Stories like Helen’s show what happens when opportunity meets determination. A single fellowship does not just change one career. It strengthens departments, inspires younger colleagues, and improves patient safety far beyond one hospital.
Help more anaesthesiologists build skills, confidence, and impact where it is needed most through WFSA Fellowships.
This fellowship was supported by EKFS.
