Anaesthesia: A miracle of modern medicine

Each year, more than four million Australians and New Zealanders will have an anaesthetic. In fact, most people will need the care of an anaesthetist at some stage in their lives – for pain relief during the birth of a baby, for a routine day-stay procedure or for a major operation requiring complex, split-second decisions that keep patients alive. Many of today’s operations, especially for the very young, very old or very ill would not be feasible without modern anaesthesia.