Dr Paulin Ruhato Banguti, a consultant anaesthesiologist at King Faisal Hospital, has been awarded a WFSA Innovation Award for his countrywide Anaesthesia Practice Network (APN) for education, mentorship and patient safety in Rwanda.

WFSA stands for World Federation of Societies of Anaesthesiologists and according to a statement, Bunguti will be honoured next week on Sept 28.

Bunguti’s innovation links anaesthesia providers and other healthcare providers who work in district hospitals across Rwanda with an experienced mentor, in order to raise safety through implementation of practice protocols.

"The APN is highly innovative in Rwanda where often healthcare providers work in isolation and hierarchy adds to a fear of speaking up for patient safety,” Dr Banguti is quoted in the statement.

He added: "this award will have a positive impact on continuous medical education toimprove anaesthesia care in Rwanda. It places our society (RSA) at the forefront, visible to attract and reinforce allegiances with our supporters and partners like CASIEF, WFSA as well as others investors in safe anaesthesia.”

The statement reads; "Innovation in the field is an integral part of improving standards in anaesthesia care globally and the WFSA is proud to announce the winners of the first WFSA Innovation Awards.”

Six innovations have been selected as winners of the award.

These include innovations from Dr Paulin Ruhato Bangutias well as Dr John Hyndland (New Zealand) Dr ArunaWickramasinghe (Sri Lanka), Dr Neha Singh (India), Dr David Peel (UK), and Drs. Christopher Hudson, VirenNaik and Emma J Stodel (Canada).

The winners will all attend an award ceremony at the World Congress of Anaesthesiologists in Hong Kong in 2016.