A team of medical experts from the South African foundation; Operation Smile, is in Rwanda to perform free cleft lip and cleft palate surgeries on over 200 patients.
A cleft lip is a separation of the two sides of the lip, which can include the bone of the upper jaw; while a cleft palate is an opening in the roof of the mouth because the two sides of the palate have not joined properly.
This is the Operation Smile South Africa’s second mission in Rwanda.
The mission startedon Friday March 11th and run for nine days up to 20th at CHUK.
A cleft lip or palate can be successfully treated with surgery, especially so if conducted soon after birth or in early childhood.
The ministry of health brought all patients at CHUK and so far accommodation, meals and other transports have been arranged for the patients.
All services are offered free of charge.
CHUK has set up six operating tables that are used by surgeons. An operation take between 45 minutes and one hour and over 50 cases are worked on a day.
The U.S government is partly sponsoring the operations, and according to Ambassador Stuart Symington, the surgeries cannot easily be valued in terms of money considering the impact they make on people’s lives.
