Annual medical report / Colony and Protectorate of Kenya.

  • Kenya. Medical Department.
Date:
[1937]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Annual medical report / Colony and Protectorate of Kenya. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    37/108 (page 29)
    SURGERY The increase in the number of surgical operations performed in Govern¬ ment Hospitals during 1937 is again indicative of the general extension of medical work, and of the increasing confidence of the African in surgical treatment. The scope of the work in Nairobi now demands the permanent retention of a second surgeon to assist the Surgical Specialist. The total of operations on Europeans has fallen slightly below that of last year, due to the fact that in 1936 a number of Sigmoidoscopic examinations, performed in the course of an investigation of Amoebiasis, was included. The table of operations performed throughout the country is shown in detail below: — 193(5 1937 Totals Major Minor Major Minor 1936 1937 On Europeans 342 463 280 389 805 669 On Asians 202 173 234 522 375 756 On Africans . . 1,890 12,745 2,485 13,040 14,635 15,525 Totals .. 2,434 13,381 2,999 13,951 15,815 16,950 DISEASES OF THE EYE Under the control of the Opthalmic Specialist, who was appointed during the year, work in this direction is showing a steady increase and will undoubtedly expand a great deal in the near future. Two wards have been provided for the admission of eye cases at the Nairobi Native Hospital and, in addition, clinics are held daily at the General Dispensary. The results of this work have created a popularity which has led to a number of African patients coming from great distances to seek admission to the Nairobi Native Hospital. Trachoma would appear to be a good deal more common than the statistical returns suggest and numerous cases with other eye complaints have been found, on examination, to be suffering from trachomatous pannus. 319 African cases were admitted to the Nairobi Native Hospital during 1937, as compared with 266 and 137 in 1936 and 1935, respectively, and an average of 200 eye treatments was carried out daily. ANESTHETICS The increase in surgical work has naturally been attended by a corres¬ ponding increase in the number of anaesthetics administered which, for 1937, was 9,357, a considerably higher figure than that for 1936. Thought anaesthetics may be given by persons other than a medical officer, this only occurs when under his immediate supervision. Eight fatalities occurred under anaesthesia, but in every case the reports showed that the anaesthetic had been properly administered, and all due precautions observed, and that death was due to emergency or extraneous conditions. In the Report of the Anaesthetist, Nairobi, the types of anaesthetics given during 1937 are classified as follows: — (i) Local anaesthetics: Planocaine, Novocaine and Cocaine 246 (ii) General anaesthetics— (a) Ethyl Chloride and Ether or Ether alone ... ... 901 (b) Chloroform ... ... ... ... ... ... 2 (c) Endo-tracheal ... ... ... ... ... 221 (d) Intravenous Evipan ... ... ... ... ... 41 {e) Spinal-Duracaine ... ... ... ... ... 2 Endo-Tracheal anaesthesia is the route of choice for administration in Tonsillectomy and in major abdominal operations, and has been found in practice to be very satisfactory. Towards the end of the year the Noswarthy apparatus was brought into use. A few cases were induced with nitrous oxide, and contrary to expecta¬ tions, a little difficulty was experienced. Though it is impossible by reason of cost to employ it as a routine, its use in selected cases gives the operator and anaesthetist an enhanced sense of confidence.