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Background and Objective: Post-operative respiratory failure (PRF) is one of the serious and common complications associated with poor outcomes, prolonged hospital stay and increased health care expenditure. Objective identification of factors leading to PRF would help optimization of patients and improve outcomes. The aim of the study was to assess the risk of PRF in a cohort of patients undergoing surgery using a validated risk calculator score. Methods: The risk calculator score developed by H Gupta et al was used to predict the chances of PRF in patients undergoing elective/emergency surgery at our hospital from January to June 2016. The primary end point was discharge from hospital or death. Results: 100 patients (Male: 74; Female: 26) undergoing elective/emergency surgery were analyzed. Four patients (4%) died and eleven (11%) developed respiratory failure. A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve with a risk calculator score of 6.30 had 92% sensitivity and 82% specificity for predicting PRF. A higher risk score had good correlation with longer hospital stay ( p=0.001). Interpretation and Conclusion: PRF risk calculator score is a valuable tool in predicting respiratory failure in patients, undergoing elective/emergency surgery. It can be useful in identifying high risk patients, allowing one to make an informed choice prior to surgery and may also help optimise such patients pre-operatively.