Ambulatory surgery is expanding worldwide because it provides high quality and cost-effective care, higher patients' satisfaction and a better use of available resources. Reduction in health care expenditure is a major issue in developed as well as in developing countries. Ambulatory surgery is now considered mandatory in over 60% of elective surgical operations in developed countries. There are very few reports in the literature regarding ambulatory surgery in developing countries. The potential expansion of ambulatory surgery in Africa has not yet been explored and defined. Nevertheless ambulatory surgery is a common practice in many hospitals in Africa and sometimes it is the only possible choice for patients undergoing elective surgery. A good example of this situation is surgery performed in the surgical camps: patients come from the country to the health care centres and walk back home in the field few hours after operation. This is sometimes the only possibility poorest patients have to obtain free surgical care
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An international cooperation initiative on day surgery has been developed between the University Hospital of Padua (Italy) and St Francis Hospital Nsambya in Kampala (Uganda) with the collaboration of the International Association for Ambulatory Surgery. The objective of this study was to evaluate the potential expansion of ambulatory surgery in Africa and the development and implementation of a day surgery unit in an urban hospital in Kampala.
