Anaesthesia and Intensive Care

Welcome to the Department of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care at VMMC and Safdarjung Hospital!

Established in 1954, in the then Barrack Hospital, Dr.BL Bhattacharya was its first qualified anaesthesiologist. It has now grown to become one of the largest and most esteemed Departments in the institution. Its commitment to excellence is reflected in the offering of a diverse range of academic programs, including MD Anaesthesia, DrNB (Critical Care), Fellowship in Palliative Medicine, and PTA for OT Technicians.

The Department provides comprehensive clinical services in anaesthesia, procedural sedation, critical care, acute & chronic pain and palliative management. The anaesthesia services cover an array of elective surgical procedures, spread over forty-one operation theatres —open, laparoscopic, and robotic—across multiple specialties such as Obstetrics & Gynaecology, General Surgery, Orthopaedics, ENT, Ophthalmology, Maxillofacial Surgery, Paediatric Surgery, Urology, Neurosurgery, Burns and Plastic Surgery, Sports Injury Surgeries, Surgical Oncology, and Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery. With over fifty operating rooms, the team ensures seamless and high-quality care. Eleven emergency operation theatres are functional round the clock, providing care for obstetric emergencies, trauma, neurosurgery, organ transplant, sports injuries and many more along with ICU care. Anaesthesia services extend beyond the operation theatres to facilitate CT scans and MRI scans especially for children. Pre-anaesthesia Check (PAC) clinics, pain clinic, and palliative care services are provided at multiple locations to facilitate access across the vast expanse of the institution.

The anaesthesia team comprises approximately 75 faculty members, 180 senior residents, 180 junior residents, and skilled technical staff. The Department faculty also manage the newly established Critical Care Department and Emergency Medicine Department.

The Department prides itself in its dedication to patient care, teaching, and training. As an accredited training centre under the Indian Resuscitation Council, its faculty includes numerous certified experts in BLS, ACLS, COLS, ATLS, and NELS. They actively participate in and also host training programs, conferences, and workshops. Faculty, senior residents, and junior residents are encouraged to engage in Continued Medical Education (CME) and Continued Professional Development (CPD) to stay at the forefront of medical advancements.

The mission is to provide exceptional patient care while advancing medical education and fostering a culture of continuous learning and innovation.

History

The Department of Anaesthesia was established in 1954, when Safdarjung Hospital was called the Barrack Hospital. Dr.BL Bhattacharya was the first qualified anaesthesiologist of the department. Operation theatres have grown from 20 in number, a few years ago, to more than 50 at present. Initially there was only one 5 bedded ICU, started in 1962, under the department of anaesthesia in the old casualty building, to around 50 beds presently being managed by the department. The first pain clinic was started in 1962, by Dr. GC Saxena and Dr. Bhattacharya which has now diversified into chronic pain, acupuncture and palliative care. The first batch of MD students with 4 students per batch was started in 1961 when it was affiliated to Delhi University.

Contact Us

Department of Anaesthesia & Intensive Care
Phone No: +91-11-26730247
E-mail: departmentofanaesthesia0[at]gmail[dot]com

Operation Theatres: Elective (41 OTs), Emergency (11 OTs), NORA stations
- Well-equipped with anaesthesia workstations, monitors, ultrasound machines, Videolaryngoscopes, fibreoptic bronchoscopes, etc.
ICU beds (28)
- Equipment: Ventilators, Anaesthesia Workstations, Ultrasound machines, video laryngoscopes, fibreoptic bronchoscopes
Training purpose: classroom with AV features for teaching, Adult and paediatric high-fidelity simulator

The Department offers multiple services throughout the hospital and in various buildings.

Elective operation theatre services (41 OTs):

General surgery – Main OT building
Oncosurgery – Main OT building
Urology – Super Speciality Building (SSB)
Neurosurgery – SSB
Cardio-thoracic and Vascular Surgery – SSB
ENT – Main OT building
Gynaecology and Obstetrics, including family planning and IVF – Maternity Building
Ophthalmology - OPD building
Orthopaedics – Main OT building
Paediatric Surgery – Main OT building
Burns and Plastic Surgery - Burns & Plastic building
Sports Injury Centre - New SIC building
Various NORA (Nonoperating room anaesthesia ) services are provided - Interventional Radiology, Cardiac cath lab, Neurointerventionalcath lab, Radiology - CT/MRI, DSA Lab, recently started ECT (Psychiatry)

Round-the-clock Emergency operation theatres (11 OTs):

Emergency OTs for surgical specialities - in New Emergency Block - 7 OTs
Gynaecology and Obstetric OT for emergencies - in Maternity block - 2 OTs
Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery OT for CTVS and Transplant- in Super-Specialty Block - 1 OT 4.
Sports Injury Centre - 1 OT

Intensive Care Units (28 beds + 22 beds):

The Department also runs two ICUs, with a total of twenty-eight beds, at New Emergency Block and Super Speciality Block. Another twenty-two beds are under the recently created Critical Care Medicine Department, managed by the faculty, residents and technicians from the Department of Anaesthesia. These units accept patients from all medical and surgical specialties based on triage and availability of beds. Each ICU bed has a high-end ventilator, and the ICU units have the facility for fiberoptic bronchoscopy as well as portable ultrasound and point-of-care testing equipment.

Pain and Palliative Care

The Palliative Medicine Unit offers comprehensive care with both outpatient and inpatient services, ensuring continuous support for patients. In the operating theatre, the unit specializes in advanced pain management techniques such as laser treatments and fluoroscopic and ultrasound-guided pain blocks. Additionally, an outpatient clinic focuses on acute and chronic pain relief, featuring services like aculaser, TENS, and acupuncture to enhance patient well-being.

Emergency Medicine

Faculty, residents and technicians of Anaesthesia Department also manage the RED Zone of Emergency Medicine Department in NEB. This zone stabilises the unstable and sick patients received in the casualty.

Pre-Anaesthetic Check-up (PAC) Clinic

Academic Programs

The department conducts several academic programmes like:

MD degree in Anaesthesia (3 year course) - 65 candidates per year affiliated to GGSIPU
DrNB in Critical Care Medicine (3 year course) - 2 candidates per year affiliated to GGSIPU
Fellowship in Palliative Medicine (6 month course) - 2 candidates every 6 months
Pre Trauma Assistants (PTA)n course for OT Technicians (1 year course) - 30 candidates per year

The Department also holds regular CMEs, seminars, guest lectures, and training activities for Interns, MBBS students, and OT Technicians. It is also the nodal centre for courses like NELS under MoHFW and COLS/BCLS/CCLS under IRCF. The Anaesthesia Simulator Centre and the dedicated Skill Labs also help train anaesthesia and other department residents. The department is well-represented in various academic conferences held nationally and internationally by the faculty and resident doctors.

Services outside the institution

The Department provides regular services to the care of VVIPs, visits of international dignitaries, large national gatherings, national calamities, pilgrimages etc.

The Medical Gas Pipeline supply including oxygen supply to the entire hospital is being managed by the department of anaesthesia.

Sr. No.	Name of Faculty	Designation
1	Dr. Sujata Chaudhary	Consultant Head of the Department
2	Dr. G. Usha	Principal Consultant
3	Dr. H. C. Sachdeva	Consultant
4	Dr. Suniti Kale	Principal Consultant
5	Dr. Smita Prakash	Consultant & Professor
6	Dr. Jeetendra Kumar Bajaj	Consultant & Professor
7	Dr. Vandana Talwar	Consultant & Professor
8	Dr. Rajpal Singh	Consultant & Professor
9	Dr. Parminder Singh Bhatia	Consultant & Professor
10	Dr. Nikhlesh Chandra	Higher Administrative Grade Officer Senior Medical Officer
11	Dr. Poonam Gupta	Consultant & Professor
12	Dr. Kavita Rani Sharma	Director Professor
13	Dr. Ameeta Sahni	Consultant & Professor
14	Dr. Amita Gupta	Professor
15	Dr. Charu Bamba	Consultant
16	Dr. Meenakshi Kumar	Consultant & Professor
17	Dr. Sushil Guria	Professor
18	Dr. Dharam Singh Meena	Director Professor
19	Dr. Nidhi Agrawal	Professor
20	Dr. Madhu Dayal	Consultant & Professor
21	Dr. Saveena G. Raheja	Senior Chief Medical Officer
22	Dr. Virendra Kumar	Senior Chief Medical Officer
23	Dr. Shweta Gupta	Chief Medical Officer
24	Dr. Sandeep Sharma	Chief Medical Officer
25	Dr. Surinder Goyal	Chief Medical Officer
26	Dr. Anirban Hom Choudhuri	Director Professor
27	Dr. Parul Mullick	Professor
28	Dr. Ranju Gandhi	Professor
29	Dr. Suman Saini	Professor
30	Dr. Gaurav Arora	Senior Chief Medical Officer
31	Dr. Deepti Saigal	Professor
32	Dr. Shipra Aggarwal	Associate Professor
33	Dr. Arushi Gupta	Professor
34	Dr. Mamta Panwar	Professor
35	Dr. Binita Jaiswal	Chief Medical Officer
36	Dr. Meenakshi Mourya	Consultant
37	Dr. Santvana Kohli	Assistant Professor
38	Dr. Sapna Bathla	Associate Professor
39	Dr. Nishtha Kachru	Associate Professor
40	Dr. Sahil Diwan	Assistant Professor
41	Dr. Sonali Banwait	Associate Professor
42	Dr. Saurav Mustafi	Associate Professor
43	Dr. Shruti Jain	Assistant Professor
44	Dr. Udismita Baruah	Associate Professor
45	Dr. Vanya Chugh	Professor
46	Dr. Pratiti Choudhary	Associate Professor
47	Dr. Amandeep Jaswal	Associate Professor
48	Dr. Dimple Pande	Associate Professor
49	Dr. Abhishek Verma	Associate Professor
50	Dr. Ajay Kumar	Associate Professor
51	Dr. Deepa K. Khurana	Associate Professor
52	Dr. Pravin Kumar	Associate Professor
53	Dr. Arin Choudhary	Assistant Professor
54	Dr. Mahesh Chander	Associate Professor
55	Dr. Madhu Bala	Associate Professor
56	Dr. Manisha	Assistant Professor
57	Dr. Ira Balakrishnan M.	Associate Professor
58	Dr. Vibhuti Sharma	Associate Professor
59	Dr. Priyanka Chhabra	Assistant Professor
60	Dr. Preeti Thakur	Assistant Professor
61	Dr. Anjali Kochhar	Associate Professor
62	Dr. Bhavya Krishna	Assistant Professor
63	Dr. Richa Chauhan	Assistant Professor
64	Dr. Pratibha Mudgil	Assistant Professor
65	Dr. Rohini Singh	Assistant Professor
66	Dr. Milthi Manoj	Assistant Professor
67	Dr. Preeti Agrawal	Assistant Professor
68	Dr. Kanika Rustogi	Assistant Professor
69	Dr. Savithri HG	Assistant Professor
70	Dr. Santosh Kumari	Assistant Professor
71	Dr. Deepa	Assistant Professor
72	Dr. Surbhi Saini	Assistant Professor
73	Dr. Krishika Verma	Assistant Professor
74	Dr. Parul Tripathi	Assistant Professor
75	Dr. Priyanka Gupta	Assistant Professor
76	Dr. Meghna Singhal	Assistant Professor
77	Dr. Somiya Gautam	Assistant Professor

Pre-anaesthetic clinic (PAC)

Registration Time: 9-11.30 am Monday to Friday; 9-11.00 am Saturday

Room no.9, Ground floor, Main OT Block
New SIC Building, 1st floor
Room no. 114, Ground floor, Super Speciality Block

Palliative Pain Clinic (PPC)

Room no 207-210, New OPD Building
OPD services (4 days in a week, 9am -1pm) i.e. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday
Day care services (4 days in a week, 9am –4pm) i.e. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday

Chronic Pain and Acupuncture Clinic (CPAC)

Room no. 13, Ground Floor Main OT Block
OPD services (2 days in a week, 9am -1pm) i.e. Wednesday and Saturday
Acupuncture Clinic (5 days in a week, 2pm –4pm) i.e. Monday to Friday.

Various research projects are undertaken by the department as part of Postgraduate/post-doctoral dissertation under the guidance of faculty members. Research work is also undertaken by faculty members. Some of the recent published work is as under:

Krishna B, Sharma K, Gandhi R, Yadav S. Anaesthetic Management for Pheochromocytoma Surgery: A Never Ending Challenge. Arch Anesth& Crit Care. 2023;9(Supp. 1):457-459.
Paul M, Bamba C, Vinay V, Krishna B; Bharani Kumar B.1. Comparing Opioid with Opioid-free Anesthesia Technique in Neonates Undergoing Tracheoesophageal Fistula Repair. Oman Med J. 2023 Sep 28;38(5):e547. doi: 10.5001/omj.2023.98. PMID: 38204595; PMCID: PMC10776962.
Krishna B, Khurana DK, Kohli S, Sharma KR, Gandhi R. Perioperative hemodynamic management in surgery for phaeochromocytoma: A narrative review. Indian Anaesth Forum 2023;24:11-20
Gonuguntla V, Talwar V, Krishna B, Srinivasan G. Correlation of Serum Magnesium Levels with Clinical Outcome: A Prospective Observational Study in Critically Ill Patients Admitted to a Tertiary Care ICU in India. Indian J Crit Care Med 2023; 27 (5):342-347.
Taneja, Swati; Krishna, Bhavya. Fahr and Beyond: Anesthesia for Obstetric Emergency in a Patient with Fahr’s Syndrome. Journal of Obstetric Anaesthesia and Critical Care 13(2):p 223-224, Jul–Dec 2023. | DOI: 10.4103/JOACC.JOACC_34_23
Krishna, Bhavya; Aggarwal, Shipra. Opioid-free anaesthesia for cleft lip surgery in a child with apnoeic spells: Another reason to smile?. Indian Journal of Anaesthesia 67(10):p 939-940, October 2023. | DOI: 10.4103/ija.ija_289_23
Swamy, V.N., Nair, P.S., Krishna, B. et al. Post-pneumonectomy surgery in prone position: a case report. Ain-Shams J Anesthesiol 15, 61 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1186/s42077-023-00363-1
Singh PM, Yadav S, Siraj F, Krishna B.Giant renal tumor in adolescent: a diagnostic dilemma and a surgical challenge.IntSurg J2023;10:1848-50. http://dx.doi.org/10.18203/2349-2902.isj20233355
Kochhar A, Panjiar P, Goel S, Pandurangi S, Maheshwari M, Bhat KM. Are residents in India trained in ultrasound guided central venous cannulation? A prospective survey on the training and practices of anaesthesiology residents in central venous cannulation. International Journal of Medical and Pharmaceutical Research Volume: 4 Issue:2 (Mar- Apr 2023); Page No: 88-95
Khurana DK, Choudhury A, Manisha M, Mustafi SM, Uppal V, Khurana H, Sachdeva H, Gupta N, Ganpathy U. Effect of Systemic Illness and Comorbidities in the Prognosis of Severe Acute Respiratory Illness Patients: An Observational Study. Archives of Anesthesiology and Critical Care. 2023;9(2):84-95.
Maddala SL, Gupta A, Balakrishnan I. Evaluation of neck measurements and their correlation with prediction of difficult laryngoscopic view. International Journal of Medical Reviews and Case Reports. 2023 Aug 1;7(3):17.
Seth M, Kachru N, Kohli S, Balakrishnan I, Chauhan R, Kumar V. Anesthetic management of a case of pulmonary alveolar proteinosis for whole lung lavage. The Egyptian Journal of Chest Diseases and Tuberculosis. 2023 Oct 1;72(4):579-83.
Gupta P, Gupta A, Bansal S, Balakrishnan I. Cardiac troponin in hospitalized COVID-19 patients: Incidence, predictors, and outcomes. Annals of Clinical Biochemistry.2023 Nov 9:00045632231216599.
Kumar V, Swain M, Balakrishnan I, Vineesha G. Anesthetic considerations in supravalvular aortic stenosis: A case series. Asian Journal of Medical Sciences. 2023;14(11): 320-5.
Choudhuri P, Balakrishnan IM, Baruah U and Gupta K. Myocardial injury in COVID- 19: A case series. Asian Journal of Medical Sciences. 2023; 14(12): 290–7.5
Ali CV, Bajaj JK. A Randomised Comparative Study to Compare the Prophylactic use of Phenylephrine and Norepinephrine in Caesarean Delivery under Spinal Anaesthesia. J ObstetAnaesth Crit Care 2023;13:17-23.
Akshay R, Bajaj JK. To study maternal hypotension, side-effects and fetal acid-base balance during cesarean delivery under spinal anesthesia using prophylactic infusion doses of 25 and 50 μg/min phenylephrine. J ObstetAnaesth Crit Care 2023;13:166-71.
Gunwal P, Bathla S, Kumari A, Bajaj JK. Comparison of Dexmedetomidine with Midazolam as an adjuvant with Propofol for insertion of ProSeal laryngeal mask airway in Children. Turk J AnaesthesiolReanim. 2023;51(2):128-134.
Sharma V, Talwar V, Meenakshi, Mudgal P. Transversus abdominis plane block with ropivacaine provides effective analgesia in patients undergoing total abdominal hysterectomy. Panacea J Med Sci 2023;13(2):277-83.
Singh A, Agrawal N, Baruah U, Sandill S. Comparison of Efficacy of Erector Spinae Plane Block with Paravertebral Block for Postoperative Analgesia in Patients Undergoing Breast Cancer Surgery. MAMC Journal of Medical Sciences, 2023;9:105.
Manhas S, Agrawal N, Jain S, Sharma R, Choudhary R. Comparison of C-MAC Miller blade video laryngoscope with conventional Miller blade in infants undergoing elective surgery- A prospective randomised trial. Indian J Anaesth 2023;67: 33-9.
Kalwal VL, Talwar V, Thakur P, Chhabra P. Comparison of premedication with nebulized dexmedetomidine and ketamine in children undergoing elective surgery. IJMSIR 2023;8(6):122-7.
Seth, Manik; Kachru, Nishtha; Kohli, Santvana; Balakrishnan, Ira; Chauhan, Richa; Kumar, Virendra. Anesthetic management of a case of pulmonary alveolar proteinosis for whole lung lavage. The Egyptian Journal of Chest Diseases and Tuberculosis 2023;72(4):579-83.
Krishna B, Jain M, Diwan S, Kohli S, et al. Epidemiological, clinical and laboratory profile of COVID patients during third wave in a tertiary care ICU setup in New Delhi. International Journal of Science Academic Research 2023;4(10):6508-12.
Seth M, Kachru N, Kohli S, Balakrishnan I, Chauhan R, Kumar V. Anesthetic management of a case of pulmonary alveolar proteinosis for whole lung lavage. The Egyptian Journal of Chest Diseases and Tuberculosis 2023;72(4):579-83.
Vineet A, Choudhury A, Krishna B, Kohli S, Kumar A. Comparative Evaluation of Baseline SOFA Score and CURB-65 Score in Predicting Patient Severity and Outcome in COVID-19 Patients Admitted to a Tertiary Care ICU. Accepted in Egyptian Journal of Tuberculosis and Chest Diseases (September 2023).
Sharma V, Chandra M, Kohli S, Yadav A, Sandill S, Sachdeva HC. Analysis of epidemiological and clinical factors of patients admitted to COVID ICU setup in a tertiary care center during second wave in India: A retrospective observational study. Archives of Anesthesiology and Critical Care (In Press).
Rai E, Naik V, Singariya G, Bathla S, Sharma R, Pani N. Recent advances in paediatric anaesthesia. Indian J Anaesth 2023; 67:2731.
Madhu Bala, Jyoti Verma, Sapna Bathla, Nikita Chaudhary. Comparative evaluation of haemodynamic response at extubation between tracheal tube and bailey manoeuvre using i-gel® in adult patients with controlled hypertension for elective surgery. IJSR 2023; 12 (4) 1-3
Khurana DK, Choudhury A, Manisha M, Mustafi SM, Uppal V, Khurana H, Sachdeva H, Gupta N, Ganpathy U. Effect of Systemic Illness and Comorbidities in the Prognosis of Severe Acute Respiratory Illness Patients: An Observational Study. Archives of Anesthesiology and Critical Care. 2023 Apr 15;9(2):84-95.
Bhandari P, Kapoor R, Chaudhary S and Lakshmi R. Anaesthesia for penetrating injury of the osopharynx in a child: a case report Ain – Shams journal of Anaesthesiology 15:25, (2023). https://doi.org/10.1186/s42077-023-00325-7
Meena S, Chaudhary S, Salhotra R, Bharti S, Khurana BK. Comparison of Airtreqvideolaryngoscope and Mac Intosh Laryngoscope for tracheal intubation in adults – a randomised study. Ain – Shams Journal of Anesthesiology 15, 30 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1186/s42077-023-00328-4.
Bharti S, Chaudhary S, Salhotra R, Meena S. Comparison of face-to-face tracheal intubation and conventional head end tracheal intubation using Airtreq video- laryngoscope in adult. A randomised study. J Anaesthesiol Clin. Pharmocol 2023; 39: 609-14
Khurana BJK, Chaudhary S, Singhal M, Rautela RS, Salhotra R, Singh A, Meena S. Comparison of Intrathecal chlorprocaine with bupivacaine in short gynaecology procedure: A randomised double-blind study. Cureus: Open access journal. DOI 10: 7759/Cureus. 44187. (2023)
Chaudhary S, Ananth RC, Bharti S, Salhotra R, Kumar M. Comparison of Dexmedetomidine and Nalbuphine on Intubating Conditions and Hemodynamic Responses During Awake Fiberoptic Intubation: A Randomized Study. Archives of Anesthesiolgoy and Critical Care (Supplementary 2023); 9(5): 386-91.
Comparison of Efficacy of Erector Spinae Plane Block with Paravertebral Block for Postoperative Analgesia in Patients Undergoing Breast Cancer Surgery; Arjun Singh, Nidhi Agrawal, Udismita Baruah, Surabhi Sandill; MAMC journal of medical sciences, vol 9, issue 2

Training of Trainers (TOT) for CCLS Instructors under Indian Resuscitation Council Federation (IRCF), 14th June 2024
Hosted ISA Clinical Meet, 23rd February 2024
Hosted ‘CME in Mechanical Ventilation’ for residents and faculty within and outside hospital - attended by many specialities in Safdarjung Hospital to learn ward management on ventilated patients, 2nd December 2023
Trauma workshop under ISA Delhi chapter, December 2023
Hosted Simulation workshop under aegis of IAPA Delhi, December 2023
Hosted IAPA Clinical Meet, 28th September 2023
CME for Anaesthesia Technicians, April 2023
World Anaesthesia Day celebration - informative session followed by celebration every year on 16th October
Regular COLS, BCLS and CCLS trainings
World Hospice and Palliative Care is celebrated every year in October
Frequent Guest Lectures