speaker profile

Hyla Kluyts is an anaesthesiologist with a passion for understanding and addressing the barriers to accessing safe quality affordable perioperative care in the South African and African context.

Her research interest therefore aligns with the broader agenda of Global Surgery research and its implementation in education, clinical perioperative care, and surgical systems strengthening. She is the Head of Department of Anaesthesiology and Critical Care at Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University and directs anaesthesia services in Dr George Mukhari Academic Hospital. Having spent 7 years in a private anaesthesia partnership practice, then returning to the academic sector, she has a fair grasp of the challenges faced in both the private and public healthcare sectors. International collaboration and engagement have broadened her view of the local situation in the context of global healthcare. She completed her doctoral degree in Anaesthesiology at the University of Pretoria on the topic of clinical risk prediction in surgical patients. She is the founder and executive director of a non-profit company and PBO, Safe Surgery SA (SSSA), that promotes the clinical use of perioperative healthcare data and offers research support to the African Perioperative Research Group (APORG). She is a member of the World Federation of Societies of Anaesthesiologists Safety & Quality of Practice committee and an honorary life member of the SA Society of Anaesthesiologists. She is a consultant to the Clinical Services Unit of CareConnectHIE, the first non-profit Health Information Exchange in South Africa. 

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She lives near Hartbeespoort Dam, Gauteng, South Africa, with her husband and two daughters.