50 cleft lip children benefit from free correctional surgery

Women Rep Regina Nyeris watches as lead surgeon Dr Meshack Ong’uti performs surgery on a child with cleft pallet at Kapenguria District Hospital. [Photo: Wilberforce Netya/Standard]

At least 50 children with cleft palate have been operated on in the past four months after volunteer doctors working for Help a Child Face Tomorrow (HCFT) visited West Pokot courtesy of Woman Rep Regina Nyeris.

According to the legislator, parents with children affected by the congenital malformation (cleft lip) hide them from the public since the community perceives the condition as a curse.

Speaking to residents after HCFT led a team of 12 doctors to carry out correctional surgery on two children at Kapenguria Hospital, Ms Nyeris told the parents of the affected children that the condition could be corrected while the children were still young.

"I want to tell our people that the condition is not a curse, but a medical condition that can be corrected. We will be conducting more of such surgeries until all cases are handled," she said.

She pledged to use vernacular radio stations to educate the community on cleft lip.

According to Meshack Ong'uti, who led a team of doctors in the exercise, the programme targets rural health institutions, where the service is hardly provided.

"Through HCFT, our doctors have offered free surgery to children in seven other counties," Dr Ong'uti said.

Healthy living

He noted that since the surgery is expensive and high risk, most parents opt to leave their children with the condition.

"The most important thing is to offer help without necessarily asking for something in return. We believe anyone can offer some form of help to help theses people," he said.

Ong'uti advised expectant mothers to get supplementary feeding and to use drugs only prescribed by qualified physicians.

He said the team of surgeons had also offered training to health staff at the different facilities they toured to promote healthy living.

Experts say cleft lip and palate is one of the most common birth malformations affecting one in 700 births in Kenya.

Although the causes of the malformation are not well understood, research show that folic acid taken in early pregnancy can reduce the risk. Folic acid is available in most vegetables.

Folic absence

Broccoli is known to be rich in this nutrient. "We advise mothers to take a lot of greens," says Dr Godfrey Kiruhi, chairman of Operation Smile Nyeri site.

But Ong'uti says the malformation can also be as a result of drugs misuse, smoking by expectant mothers and inhalation of exhaust fumes, which contain harmful chemicals.