Chinese medical facilities see improvement in performing anesthesia

BEIJING -- The anesthesia-related mortality rate in China has decreased to 12 per 1 million people, close to that in developed countries, which is 10 per million, China Central Television (CCTV) has reported.

In recent years, anesthesia has been performed on a wider range of recipients in China, including fetuses, newborns and elderly patients, enabling them to receive medical procedures that were once considered too risky for them.

Major hospitals across the country have set up anesthesia outpatient clinics to provide patients with services including anesthesia risk assessment and follow-up visits after surgeries.

"Instead of merely focusing on the surgery, an anesthetist now treats a patient from the pre-surgery adjustment of the patient's inner environment to the control of nausea and vomiting after surgery," Ou Shan, director of the anesthesiology department with Chengdu First People's Hospital, said when interviewed by CCTV.

The National Health Commission issued a work plan in August 2018, calling on medical institutions to expand their anesthesia services and promote painless labor and gastrointestinal endoscope.