KU Hospital begins cleft lip and palate surgeries to restore patients’ smiles
About six children are born with cleft lip and or cleft palate every day in Kenya, translating to some 2,000 children born with the deformities annually.
Kenyatta University Teaching Referral and Research Hospital (KUTRRH) has kicked off cleft lip and palate corrective surgeries as it emerged that about 2,000 children are born with the deformities every year.
In a joint venture with Operation Smile Kenya, the hospital began a week-long free surgical camp at the facility, with some 70 patients initially screened in a bid to restore their smiles.
Operation Smile Kenya country manager Dr Asaph Kinyanjui, says cleft lip and palate is among the most common congenital disabilities found among live births in the country.
He disclosed that in Kenya, about six children are born with cleft lip and or cleft palate every day, translating to some 2,000 children born with the deformities annually.
“The resulting facial deformity is devastating for the infant and the affected families,” stated Dr Kinyanjui.
He added that the visible facial defect not only has a detrimental effect on feeding, development of language and hearing, but also on psychological development due to the social stigma attached to it.
“The biggest challenge that children with cleft lip and palate face include not being able to feed and face a lot of stigma and discrimination from peers,” Dr Kinyanjui reiterated.
He noted that despite its common occurrence, it remains a surgically neglected disease due to healthcare policies prioritizing the management of communicable and non-communicable diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis, HIV/Aids, diabetes and cancer.
The KUTRRH Acting Chief Executive Dr Zeinab Gura, while officially opening the surgical camp on Monday, said that screening is being conducted to establish patients who will require surgeries adding that the partnership is intended to deliver the critical interventions to victims.
Dr Gura noted with concern that cleft lip and palate victims undergo a myriad of challenges including stigmatisation, adding that the corrective surgeries will enable them to live comfortably.
She disclosed that KUTRRH and Operation Smile Kenya are working on a formal partnership which will see the services offered at the facility daily, thereby ending patients’ struggle and costs of seeking the services at specialized centers.
Earlier, Dr Kinyanjui revealed that the partnership with KUTRRH will cascade the services to counties and sub-county levels, adding that his organization will facilitate training healthcare providers in offering the services to patients.
“We will also partner with Ministry of Health to develop policies and guidelines that look at access to safe surgeries so that even as a country we are able to promote quality of care and cascade services to regional and county levels,” he said.
“It is part of Universal Health Coverage which is in line with the Ministry of Health and Government policies so that we can save patients the suffering and costs of travelling for long distances as they seek for care,” he added.
Dr Gura and Dr Kinyanjui rallied Kenyans to register under the National Health Insurance Scheme (SHA), saying that treating the deformity, which costs about Ksh 90,000 is unaffordable especially to Kenyans in low income brackets.
“SHA is critical in facilitating the corrective surgeries and other treatments and it’s imperative that all Kenyans register under the new scheme,” Dr Gura said.
