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Background: Access to quality and timely care prevents unnecessary deaths and morbidity from potentially curable surgical diseases. This study describes the magnitude of unmet surgical needs in a Nigerian community and describes the experiences garnered during a surgical outreach organized by a tertiary institution in an underserved community., Methods: This is a descriptive study highlighting details of a surgical outreach to a community in south-Western part of Nigeria. The project was based on a collaboration between a University Teaching Hospital (gown) and the community (town). Details of the patients' demographic and disease characteristics as well as barriers to seeking medical care were obtained. The operational workflow, treatment offered, and outcomes are highlighted. Results are presented as descriptive statistics., Results: Over a two-day period, 83 out of 3,056 patients who were screened had surgically treatable conditions (2.7%), predominantly hernias (37, 46.6%), goitres (13, 15.7%) and soft tissue swellings (9, 10.8%). The majority were adults (56, 67.5%) while 27 (32.5%) were in the paediatric age group. The mean duration of symptoms was 8.64 months ± 9.5 months. About half of the patients (46.9%) had never visited a medical facility on account of their index illnesses. Lack of funds was cited by many patients as the main reason for having not presented at a hospital. Sixty-three surgical operations were performed with no peri-operative adverse events., Conclusion: Lack of financial access was the major barrier to surgical care in the sampled community. Moving from 'gown to town' helped address a significant proportion of the unmet needs over a relatively short period. Tertiary hospitals can provide surgical oversight to communities within their jurisdiction using this approach., Competing Interests: The Authors declare that no competing interest exists, (Copyright © 2023 by West African Journal of Medicine.)

Unlabelled: Tracheal intubation for general anaesthesia is often associated with postoperative sore throat, hoarseness and cough which can be distressing to patients. We compared the effects of lidocaine and K-Y jellies on postoperative sore throat, cough and hoarseness of voice following endotracheal anaesthesia., Methods: Ninety-two ASA I or II patients scheduled for elective surgery under endotracheal general anaesthesia were randomly allocated into two groups. Tracheal tubes were lubricated with either 2% lidocaine jelly (LJ) or K-Y jelly (KYJ) for the groups and the patients were interviewed at 1, 12 and 24 hours post extubation., Results: The mean scores for sore throat were lower in the KYJ group than the LJ group but this was only statistically significant at 12 hours (p = 0.02). The incidence of sore throat, hoarseness and cough were also lower in the KYJ than in the LJ group but these were not significant. While the incidence of sore throat was comparable among both sexes in the LJ group, it was higher in females (55.6%) than in males (18.8%) in the KYJ group (p = 0.02). Whereas in patients older than 30 years the incidence of sore throat, hoarseness and cough were similar in both groups, in patients less than 30 years, there were significant differences (p = 0.01 and 0.02 respectively). The incidence of side effects was similar in both groups irrespective of duration of intubation., Conclusion: K-Y jelly is superior to lidocaine jelly in preventing postoperative sore throat, and in reducing the incidence of hoarseness of voice and cough. Postopearive throat complaints are more common in females than males.