• D S Weerasekera and K K Gunawardene.
• General Hospital, Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka.
• Ceylon Med J. 1996 Sep 1;41(3):102-3.

ObjectiveIn most developing countries there is a dearth of qualified anaesthesiologists to administer general anaesthesia for tubal sterilisation. This study was done to determine whether ketamine could be safely used by non-specialist doctors as an anaesthetic for open tubal ligation.MethodA retrospective observational study of 4851 tubal sterilisations done under ketamine anaesthesia. All patients were given diazepam 0.1 mg/kg body weight intravenously followed by intravenous ketamine 2 mg/kg body weight slowly over one minute. All sterilisations were performed by Pomeroys method by a specialist or a senior house officer with specialist supervision.ResultsThere were no major adverse reactions such as cardio-respiratory arrest following administration of ketamine. Hallucinations and transient psychotic sequalae were a common occurrence during the postoperative period. In 96% of patients the procedure was pain free.ConclusionKetamine given by non-specialist doctors can be recommended in carefully selected patients when there is a dearth of qualified anaesthesiologists for tubal sterilisations.

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