Role of a general surgeon in obstetrics and gynaecology in a rural setting

In a rural hospital in northern Nigeria, general surgeons performed 217 obstetric and gynaecologic operations over a five-year period. These operations were responsible for 23% of all operations at the hospital. Emergency operations were most frequent with caesarean section accounting for 90%. Eight...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inEast African medical journal Vol. 75; no. 1; p. 27
Main Authors Ameh, E A, Mbibu, H N, Adams, L M, Nmadu, P T
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Kenya 01.01.1998
Subjects
Cesarean Section - statistics & numerical data
Female
General Surgery
Gynecologic Surgical Procedures - mortality
Gynecologic Surgical Procedures - statistics & numerical data
Humans
Nigeria
Obstetric Surgical Procedures - mortality
Obstetric Surgical Procedures - statistics & numerical data
Physician's Role
Pregnancy
Retrospective Studies
Rural Health
Workload
Nigeria
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Summary:In a rural hospital in northern Nigeria, general surgeons performed 217 obstetric and gynaecologic operations over a five-year period. These operations were responsible for 23% of all operations at the hospital. Emergency operations were most frequent with caesarean section accounting for 90%. Eighty five per cent of the caesarean sections were performed for cephalopelvic dysproportion. The complications encountered were mostly septic complications, predominantly in patients who had caesarean section for obstructed labour. The overall mortality was 5.1% and neonatal mortality from caesarean section was 4.8%. It is concluded that in the abscence of an obstetrician and gynaecologist general surgery experience is required to manage obstetric and gynaecologic problems in rural areas. Such experience should be considered when recruiting doctors for rural hospitals in developing countries.
ISSN:0012-835X