A protocol for safe anaesthesia for cleft lip and palate surgery in developing countries

A project to perform surgical correction of cleft lips and palates was carr ied out in Uganda in 1998. Twenty: centres were visited and 336 cleft lips and 41 cleft palates were repaired. The age of the patients ranged from 2 w eeks to 60 years. Many of the centres visited were remote and racked even t he most basic equipment. Patients were anaesthetised using ketamine, ether or halothane according to a protocol that we developed. There was no anaest hetic mortality and only one case of significant morbidity We report our ex perience and discuss recommendations regarding the provision of; anaesthesi a in remote circumstances based on our outcome. An additional benefit of th e project was that ae provided training to local medical personnel in anaes thesia and surgery for cleft lips and palates.