PROTECT SURG TRIAL

Surgical patients are at high risk of exposure to respiratory infection transmissions including coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and other complications. Despite this, some surgeries especially non-elective ones have to be performed even during the pandemic period which will likely increase post-operative pneumonia cases, hospital resource use and mortality rates.

The PROTECT Surg Trial has been planned to estimate the impact of interventions hypothesised to avert postoperative pulmonary complications during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is an international multicentre adaptive trial which will establish as quick as possible beneficial interventions, drop interventions with no evidence of effectiveness and introduce new interventions with potential of reducing pulmonary complications during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the initial design, the trial will assess the effectiveness of three interventions compared to normal practice (no trial drug): (1) lopinavir-Ritonavir (2) hydroxychloroquine and (3) a combination of Lopinavir-Ritonavir and hydroxychloroquine.The NIHR GSU Nigeria Hub stakeholders dissemination conference, with the theme

'Achieving improved efficiencies through increased cross-functional collaboration and Partnership in Nigeria' held on the 15th - 17th of June, 2022.

The purpose of the conference was to bring Surgeons together, to engage stakeholders such as the clinical research regulatory bodies in disseminating the outomes of projects done by the Hub so far, and to ensure further collaboration. Also, the conference was to encourage Surgeons to get involved in grant fundable research (local and internationally).