“The churning out of more surgeons than anaesthetists has led to an acute shortage of the latter, not only in Uttar Pradesh but across the country,” said Dr Bajaj, planning commission member of Punjab and also a Padma Vibhushan awardee.

Dr Bajaj was speaking on the first of the three-day annual conference of the National Academy of Medical Science, organised by CSMMU. Anaesthetists are not only required during surgeries but also for handling ventilators in ICU and in Lucknow alone, ventilators at Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, Shyamaprasad Mukherjee Hospital and Balrampur Hospital are not operated due to lack of anaesthetists, said Dr Bajaj. Dr Bajaj also suggested the recruitment of retired army doctors in the state health services to meet the demands of health service providers at the ground level.

“It’s high time the government starts looking at other options like recruiting retired army doctors as anaesthetists because these doctors retire from service when they are about 55 years old and can, therefore, serve the health system efficiently,” said Bajaj.The conference was inaugurated by Governor B L Joshi.