10,000 anaesthesia procedures are conducted every year at Rashid Hospital

The Dubai Health Authority held a twitter smart clinic to raise awareness about the importance of anaesthesia and discuss new trends in the field.

Dr Suraj Jose, senior specialist anaesthesiologist  and Dr Hany Greiss, consultant anaesthesiologist at Rashid Hospital took part in the clinic.

Jose highlighted that anaesthesia is needed for practically all procedures in the hospital.  He tweeted, “Anaesthesia is not only administered for surgical cases  but also for diagnostic procedures & therapeutic procedures.”

He further elaborated that Anaesthesia is administered for diagnostic procedures such as MRI, CT scan and therapeutic procedures such as cardiac catherization procedures etc.,  where patients need to be absolutely immobile or comfortable. “Some patients feel claustrophobic while getting an MRI done, if nothing else works, anaesthesia is administered. This is particularly useful in pediatric cases.”

Jose said that on an average, 10,000 anaesthesia procedures are conducted every year at Rashid Hospital. Of these 6,500 are general anaesthesia cases and 3,500 are regional anaesthesia cases.

Greiss added that there are two types of anaesthesia, general and regional. “In general anaesthesia the patient will be unconscious and in regional anaesthesia the patient will be conscious and we can numb a particular part of the body.

“The recovery time is quicker and hospital stay is shorter when regional  anaesthesia is administered.

“Regional anaesthesia is highly advanced to the extent that we can block a single nerve and proceed with surgery for that particular region of the body. Earlier nerve stimuli was used to block the nerves but now with the help of newer tools like ultrasound, anaesthesiologists can see the nerve directly while administrating anaesthesia. For example, for any surgery on the thumb, blockage of the radial nerve is sufficient.  The patient can be awake or he can decide to opt to take a sedative so that he is asleep during the procedure.”

Jose added that, in general, patients can decide which anaesthesia they prefer and the doctor advises patients regarding the pros and cons according to the patient’s condition.

Factors that will determine the type of anaesthesia include age, comorbidities, type of surgery, duration of surgery etc. “For emergency surgeries all patients are taken for surgery in spite of their co-morbidities and anaesthesia is administered immediately so that the surgeons can begin the surgery,” he informed.

“Anaesthesia is  highly advanced today and patients should discuss their options with the anaesthesiologist so that they can be as comfortable as possible before undergoing any procedure.”

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