KOCHI: The 14th international congress of anaesthesiologists, ‘SAARC AA 2022’, began at Le Meridien Convention Centre in Kochi on Friday. The three-day summit is being organised by the Indian Society of Anaesthesiologists together with the SAARC Association of Anaesthesiologists. This year Kerala State and South Zone Anaesthesia Conferences also merge with the international summit.
Dr M R Rajagopal, director, Institute of Palliative Care Sciences, Thiruvananthapuram, inaugurated the congress. “Anaesthesiology is widely known as a medical discipline dedicated to pain relief and total care of surgical patients, before, during and after surgery.
But, less known to the public is its role in palliative care where the focus is on improving the quality of life of patients by managing pain and other distressing symptoms and challenges associated with chronic ailments,” said Dr Rajagopal. On the first day, the conference discussed topics on cardiac anaesthesia, obstetrics anaesthesia, ophthalmic anaesthesia, transfusion and coagulation, anaesthesia for ENT procedures, resuscitation, geriatric anaesthesia and research papers.