Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) celebrated the 169th anniversary of Ether Day by holding a conference.
The two-event, organised by HMC’s department of anaesthesiology, the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), perioperative medicine and the department of cardiothoracic anesthesia and CT-ICU at Heart Hospital, featured a number of presentations by international and local speakers.
Around 400 attendees comprising surgeons, anaesthetists, nurses and intensive care unit staff took part in scientific sessions of the conference.
It highlighted various aspects of anaesthesia by featuring leading international specialists in the field, including Professor John Myburgh, professor of intensive care medicine at University of New South Wales and senior intensive care physician at St George Hospital, Sydney and Professor Hugo Van Aken, professor and chairman of the department of anaesthesiology, intensive care medicine and pain therapy at University Hospital, Munster, Germany.
Dr Abdul Rasheed Pattath, head of cardiothoracic anaesthesia at Heart Hospital, said the day commemorated the advent of anaesthesia as a specialty on October 16, 1846.
“This breakthrough ranks as one of the most significant events in the history of medicine. The discovery made it possible for patients to obtain the benefits of surgical treatment without the pain associated with it,” he said.
Prof Abraham E Marcus, chair of the department of anaesthesiology, ICU and perioperative medicine and patron of the organising committee for the event, said that the team of anaesthesiologists is as relevant as the surgical team, saying that both teams provide medical care to patients prior to, during and after surgery.
He said more than 50,000 patients receive anaesthesia services at HMC every year.