Background: Anesthetist most of the time feel that they have not been given the credit they deserve. They have been treated as behind the screen specialist. Their role has never been appreciated by the patient. Most of the time patient’s knowledge about anesthesia andanesthetist is limited.

Aim: To assess patient awareness regarding anesthesia and anesthetist  

Method: After approval from the institutional ethical committee, 200 participants cheduled for various surgical procedures were randomly selected. After obtaining informed written consent, they were administered a set of questionnaire face to face orally by an investigator and their responses were recorded separately. The data collected were subjected to simple statistical analysis.  

Result: Out of 200 patients, only 40% knew that anesthetist alleviate the pain of surgical procedure by putting the patient to sleep. Only 30% of participants said that anesthetist is a specialist doctor. Hardly very few patients knew about the role of anesthetist outside the operation theatre.

Conclusion: Awareness of patients about anesthesia and anesthetist is very much limited. Lack of recognition and appreciation of the role of anesthetist by the patients contributes to the frustration of anesthetist. Hence, every opportunity to spread awareness about  anesthesia and anesthetist among patients must be utilized for the benefit of both patient and the anesthetist.