Anæsthesia in District Hospitals

For a long time now I have* noticed correspondence in the British Medical Journal under the heading ' Complacency in Anesthesia In England there is a fairly wide choice of anesthetics, from gas and oxygen, its combinations with ether % cyclopropane, ether and chloroform alone or mixed, to all the varieties of local, regional, and spinal anaesthesia, intravenous, tracheal, rectal and so on. In England, again, most serious surgery is done by a team, and an anaesthetic specialist' is part of that team. He, to a great extent, shoulders the responsibility and anxiety of anaesthesia. Yet there appears to be but little ' complacency ' about anaesthesia in the 'United Kingdom, although so far advanced over the conditions that obtain in the districts of South India. It would therefore be foolish even to suppose that we in India are complacent about anaesthesia. No, we are far from complacent as every office can show from its files. Anaesthesia in South India outside the city hospitals is one long anxiety, and few escape disaster at some time or other; this undermines confidence, and so the efficiency of the staff, and scares away would-be patients in