Obstructed labour at the University Teaching Hospital, Lusaka, Zambia - April 1972 - December 1973

Sixty-three cases of obstructed labour encountered at the University Teaching Hospital, Lusaka, Zambia, are analysed for the period April 1972 - December 1973. For the same period there were 27 348 deliveries and 1 432 Caesarean sections. The management of choice was Caesarean section, because of a lack of experienced medical staff and the poor results obtained, together with the serious complications which follow destructive operations before vaginal deliveries. Eighty-five per cent of the babies were delivered alive. There was no maternal death. Twenty-six mothers remained in hospital for longer than 10 days. There was 1 case of a burst abdomen.