By Ndumiso Tshuma
Operation of Hope, a renowned American and Canadian Volunteer Surgical Organisation, is offering free cleft surgeries to children for two weeks at Mpilo Central Hospital in Bulawayo and the exercise has drawn patients from other cities.
The organisation has done over 5 000 free facial reconstructive surgeries in hospitals around Zimbabwe, with a team of highly skilled surgeons specialising in cleft lip and palate operations.
Operation of Hope, in collaboration with other local partners such as Schweppes Holdings African Limited, the Ministry of Health and Child Care Zimbabwe, Rotary International, the Emirates Airline Foundation, and Mangwana Capital, presented a renovated hospital ward to Mpilo Central Hospital in Bulawayo, along with several medical accessories to equip the ward.
The donated equipment includes new surgical beds, 20 blankets, 20 mattresses, 40 bed sheets and new curtains for the children who will undergo the cleft surgeries.
Speaking at the screening and handover ceremony on Saturday at Mpilo Central Hospital, Jennifer Mora Trubenbach, emphasised the organisation’s long-standing commitment to Zimbabwe, highlighting their continuous provision of free surgical assistance to the institution for the past nine years.
“One baby born out of 850 in the black race will be born with this deformity of the cleft lip or the cleft palate. A cleft lip is when the baby is developing in the womb of the mother and the womb closes up like a book causing the deformity of the mouth. A hole in the mouth is then developed when the baby comes out, which is a problem we are able to fix,” said Trubenbach.
Trubenbach added that because a baby develops speech between the ages of 18 months and two years, the deformity in the baby is not visible, and if those suffering from cleft left palate disease do not correct the problem in the child, the child will not have a good pronunciation of speech when older
She stated that they are mainly targeting children who are 18 months to two years of age who commonly have this disease.
“We do all of this for free and this is all voluntary work. We love coming to Mpilo. We love helping the people of Zimbabwe and we are going to do surgeries for two weeks starting on May 5 to May 18, 2024. We urge people to get the word out to any parent who has a child with this deformity and we say the sooner the parent comes with their child the easier it will be for them,” said Trubenbach.
Trubebenbach further mentioned that as a team they have 20 volunteers who come to help, coupled with 10 qualified surgeons such as Pedi attritions and trained resident volunteers who come and assist them.
“We are most proud because next week, your own Harare Surgeon, Wayne Manyana, is one of our senior surgeons who we have helped train to do this surgery when we are not here .One day we are not needed and when we have trained enough people, then that’s when we move to another country that needs this sought of help,” said Trubenbach.
Corporate Affairs Executive of Schweppes Holdings African Limited Ropafadzo Gwanesta noted the company has been working with Operation of Hope for about ten years, with the majority of surgical procedures performed in Harare.
“We saw an opportunity to expand these services to the southern region of Zimbabwe, that’s why we are here at Mpilo hospital. We have been working closely with the government of Zimbabwe and Operation of Hope, and this investment that we have done here at Mpilo hospital is a show of gratitude and a way of thanking Mpilo hospital for taking care of the patients that come through,” said Gwanesta.
She added that HealthCare is part of the most essential services Schweppes Holdings African Limited prioritises, therefore renovations have been done at Ward B3 Mpilo hospital where new bathrooms and toilets were renovated with an additional donation of adding new surgical beds, blankets , sheets and new curtains for patients.
“ We also cater to patients’ food and nutritional requirements and In terms of the cost, when we look at it , it goes beyond the monetary value therefore by doing these donations we focus on how we can make the society better including the way people live,” said Gwanetsa.
Matron Sthabisiwe Ndlovu of Mpilo Hospital stated that Schweppes Holdings African Limited’s donation has brought life into the hospital since they began donating at Mpilo, and has even assisted patients suffering from these deformities and other difficulties in obtaining treatment.
“We recognise for the past four years you have been doing these donations for us and we are very grateful. Mpilo on its own means life and when patients come here to the hospital we want them to get that feeling of life that they are looking for,” said Ndlovu.
A resident from Bindura who was in Bulawayo for the exercise, Chennai Chiviringe, revealed her two-year-old child was born with this abnormality and that without Operation of Hope’s assistance, she would not have been able to provide her daughter with the medical care she required.
“My friend advised me about surgical assistance that I could get from Mpilo Hospital for free and I had to come to Bulawayo for this surgical assistance. Even though it cost me a lot of money to get here, at least I have found a way to help my child. This has given me and my child hope and a chance for a better future,” said Chiviringe.
Patience Ndlovhana from Gweru also expressed her gratitude and stated she would not have been able to afford the operation for her child.
“I went to three private hospitals here in Zimbabwe and they told me that they did not have a surgeon here in Zimbabwe who has been fully trained as of yet to do the operation. They expressed the operation will then cost US$35 000 for them to get a surgeon from overseas and operate my child. This is an amount I cannot afford so I am very grateful for this medical assistance that Mpilo is providing for my child,” said Ndlovhana.
