Practice of anaesthesia and surgery in a rural clinic: meeting the challenge

This is a descriptive prospective study aimed at describing the scope of surgery and anaesthetic practice in a rural clinic in Ngo, Nigeria. All the medical records of patients that fulfilled the inclusion criteria and were managed in the clinic were retrieved and analysed. Out of 6911 patients who attended the clinic within the period, 575 (8.32%) medical records of surgical patients were retrieved. Fifteen (2.60%) were referred to tertiary health centres for expert management of their surgical conditions. Of the remaining 560 medical records that were retrieved 551(98.4%) met the criteria for inclusion and had their surgical pathology treated in 583 procedures. The commonest surgical problem encountered in the rural clinic was hernias(39.75%) done mainly using 1% xylocaine local anaesthesia (63.64%). The commonest anaesthesia used in the clinic was ketamine anaesthesia(53.90%). Mortality recorded within the period was in two (0.4%) women who had eclampsia and severe post partum haemorhage. The result suggests that adequately trained family physicians can meet the challenge of scarcity of surgeons and anaesthesiologists in the rural areas satisfactorily. Keywords Rural clinic, Nigeria, Anaesthesia, Surgery, Personnel.