Yes, true. All the news we hear about anaesthesia is predominantly negative. But we have to put things in perspective. Now we are not trivializing that every single case that happens hits the newspaper headlines is a tragedy for patients and family members. But just to put things in perspective, every year, about 2-3 lakhs or at least 2 lakh patients undergo anaesthesia in Bangalore and probably twice this in Karnataka. So we are looking at 4-5 lakh and hearing isolated incidents, it's not to say that these incidents don't happen, but then we have lessons to learn from them. By large, it is very safe. With experienced hands and good centres, mortality due to anaesthesia has come down, and probably for every 1-2 lakh patients who undergo anaesthesia getting directly affected is rare, as a result of anaesthesia which is very safe. Things have improved dramatically over the last 20 years.
