‘Only 3,000 qualified anaesthetists registered with PMC’

LAHORE:There are about 3,000 qualified anaesthetists registered with the Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC) and the number is extremely deficient for safe and quality anaesthetic care, said Prof Khalid Bashir, former Professor of Anaesthesiology at PGMI Lahore and President Pakistan Society of Anaesthesiologists Lahore.

In a statement on World Anaesthesia Day marked on October 16, he said factors leading to the current situation were a less number of training slots, trainers, increasing demand worldwide, transfer of trainers to new medical colleges, difficulty in getting job after higher qualification, stress of specialty, working hours in DHQ/THQ, retention of trained staff, and finances. “The lack of qualified anesthesia providers is likely to have a dramatic impact on the quality of health care in the country. Without qualified anesthesiologists, many critical surgical procedures may be delayed or even cancelled,” Prof Khalid Bashir added. “Anaesthetists are not ordinary doctors, and cannot be replaced as OPD doctors are replaced. Their job is technical and needs training under supervision. It takes minimum two years to train a doctor, for diploma, who can administer safe anaesthesia, still to a limited extent. It is not justified to send untrained doctors and technologists to administer anaesthesia to poor patients in DHQ and THQ hospitals. It is our moral responsibility to provide safe anaesthetic cover to all surgical patients, whether they are in rural or urban areas,” he added. World Anaesthesia Day was duly observed by the Pakistan Society of Anaesthesiologists Lahore. Clinical meetings were held, where safety of patients and occupational wellbeing of anaesthetists were

discussed.