Coinciding with its platinum jubilee, the Indian Society of Anaesthesiologists (ISA) has launched a campaign to create awareness among the masses on the need to know their anaesthesiologist before a medical procedure for their safety and to reduce the illegal practice of administration of anaesthesia by an unqualified person.
Addressing a press conference at a hotel here on Sunday, ISA secretary Naveen Malhotra said an anaesthesiologist played a crucial role in different hospital departments and it was difficult to imagine a hospital running without them, but their contribution mostly remained unrecognised.
He said it was important for a patient to know their anaesthesiologist and share their medical history with them since the right dose of anaesthesia could be the difference between the life and death for a patient.
He condemned the practice of administration of anaesthesia by unqualified persons saying it was “illegal” and could be “fatal”. Dr. Malhotra added that the illegal practice was widespread due to lack of awareness among the patients.
He said the number of anaesthesiologists had gone up over the past couple of years in India with the increase in intake for the course in the institutes.
Dr. Malhotra said that ISA, with around 40,000 members, had over the years taken several steps to ensure the safety of the patients including, the adoption of the WHO checklist, publication of minimum standards for operation and stepping up training programmes.
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