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KARACHI, May 19: The Pakistan Society of Anaesthesiologists formulated, on Sunday, a set of basic standards of safety that hospitals, both public and private, must follow at all costs.
The PSA annual conference, whose theme this year is “Competent anaesthesiologist is a patient’s right”, saw anaesthesiologists from different parts of the country read out their papers using modern computer presentational methods.
At the inaugural session, Dr Habibul Haq Siddiqui made a keynote speech, speaking about the history, background and objectives of the PSA.
“The Pakistan Society of Anaesthesiologists was established in 1971, when anaesthesia was not scientifically practised in Pakistan. The society has made concerted efforts to create awareness about the subject among the masses,” he said.
Dr Siddiqui said the PSA had always demanded that better equipment and facilities for patients be arranged by the hospitals, whether public or private.
In the next session about “Safety in anaesthesia”, speakers said that in the developed world, one in every 100,000 patients dies because of anaesthesia-related reasons. They said that in Pakistan, this figure is doubtlessly higher.
They stressed the need for creating awareness among the patients so that they (the patients) ensured that they were not only provided an anaesthesiologist, but also a qualified one.
Brig M. Salim highlighted the current situation and the inherent dangers in the anaesthetic and surgical practices because of a lack of realization of importance of the subject by the health authorities.
Prof Fauzia A. Khan underlined the need for setting basic standards of safety. “All over the world, people associated with the medical profession have laid down these standards which enable them to provide risk-free treatment to their patients.”
Prof S. Tipu Sultan enumerated the recommendations of the PSA.
HE SAID: “All anaesthetic should be administered by a trained and qualified anaesthesiologist and a skilled assistant should be available in the operation room.”
He added that documentation was an extremely important aspect to ensure safety. “The documentation of pre-operation assessment, intra-operation flow charts and post-operation orders is necessary. Apart from drug labelling, a checklist of anaesthesia machines should also be present in the operation theatre.”
Prof Sultan said that the standard dimensions of the operation theatre were 58 metres squared by 45 metres squared. He also stressed the need for controlling the operation theatre environment: humidity 50 to 60 per cent, temperature 21 degrees 21 degrees to 24 degrees Centigrade, lights (similar to daylight), cleanliness, electrical safety and pollution.
He said that the following equipment should be present in the operation theatre: gas supply (manifold system with pressure and content gauges, emergency oxygen cylinder on machine with Bourdon gauge and alarm system), tilting table, anaesthesia machine (oxygen failure alarm, oxygen flush, flow meters, vaporizer, ventilator, suction for the anaesthesiologist and resuscitation trolley).
The fifth important component of basic standard of safety was monitoring, said Prof Sultan. He added that for minimum mandatory monitoring an analyser, NIBP, pulse oximetry, continuous ECG and pre-cordial stethoscope should be present.
The next session was on “Anaesthesia and comorbid illness”, after which the anaesthesiologists discussed various controversies which had been raging for quite some time.
