Visionary Reports

  Parents who have children with such birth defects are called upon to take their children for surgery

A campaign to carryout surgery on children born with cleft lip and cleft palate is currently going on at the Douala General hospital. The surgery which is free of charge is thanks to a partnership agreement signed between the hospital and the Smile Train International NGO. To this effect a sensitization crusade to call for the population to bring their children for surgery is currently ongoing.  Since the launch of the sensitization campaign on the17 of May, the hospital have received about 35 children out of which 10 have been operated upon.

 According to the head of campaign team Dr Kuifo Cedric, ENT specialist, they realized that people were not aware of the fact that children with such birth defects could be operated upon at the regional hospital free of charge as such he went on, the campaign was to raise awareness and to inform the public that the surgery is free and is for every child.

He added that before the launch of the sensitization campaign the hospital had receive and operated about 50 patients free of charge. “The surgery for cleft lip and cleft palate started since 2013 and is still ongoing” Dr Kuifo said. He added that they launched the sensitization campaign on May 17 the turnout has greatly increased.

 Dr Kuifo Cedric explained  that once a patient arrive, he / she get registered at the Ear Nose and Throat  (ENT) department once it is confirmed that it is cleft,  the necessary medical preliminaries are done after which  the patient is for programmed for a surgery.

 While in the hospital wards, some mothers whose children have been operated upon expressed their gratitude, one of them, Nnanga Jeanne who came all the way from Yaoundé with her 16 month old baby expressed her joy for the treatment her baby received. “This child was born with a hole on his upper lip, I didn’t understand what was happening so when I saw a flyer with children with the same condition, I immediately called the number on the flyer and I was made to understand that after the operation my baby’s mouth will be okay. That is how I travelled from Yaoundé to Douala and my child was operated free of charge”. She thanked the authorities of the hospital for such an opportunity and pray that it is extended to other hospitals in Cameroon so that other children will benefit.

Worthy of note is that Orofacial clefts (OFCs) are common congenital malformations that occur when the baby’s lip or mouth do not form properly during pregnancy. As per a note signed by the director of the Douala regional hospital Professor Henry Luma, the Smile Train NGO has paid the sum of 500 dollars, about 275.000CFA for the operation of each child. As such the professor called on all the medical staff involved in the chain to ensure that every child that show up for the operation should get the best treatment.

By GINA ESONG