KUTRRH Begins Cleft Lip And Palate Surgeries To End Stigma, Restore Smile To Patients
Kenyatta University Teaching Research and Referral Hospital (KUTRRH) Acting CEO Dr Zeinab Gura and Operation Smile Kenya Country Manager Dr Asaph Kinyanjui during the launch of the surgical camp.
By John Kamau
Cleft lip and palate patients can now heave a sigh of relief after Kenyatta University Teaching Research and Referral Hospital (KUTRRH) began conducting surgeries to rectify the deformities.
The hospital has already partnered with Operation Smile Kenya in a week-long free surgical camp at the facility, with some 70 patients set to benefit and have their smiles restored.
Cleft lip and palate is among the most common congenital disabilities found among live births.
In Kenya, it is estimated that around six children are born with cleft lip and or cleft palate every day. About 2000 children are born with the deformities annually.
The resulting facial deformity is devastating not only for the infant but also for the affected families.
Further, 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.
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.
KUTRRH Acting CEO Dr Zeinab Gura speaking while officially opening the surgical camp yesterday, 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 stigma adding that the surgeries will enable them to live comfortably.
The CEO divulged that KUTRRH and Operation Smile Kenya are mooting a formal partnership which will see the services offered at the facility on a daily basis thereby ending patients’ struggle and costs of seeking the services at specialized centers.
Operation Smile Kenya Country Manager Dr Asaph Kinyanjui reiterated that the biggest challenge that children with cleft lip and palate face include not being able to feed, get required milestones, face a lot of stigma and discrimination from peers.
He said that the surgeries and medical interventions will restore smiles and enable them to live comfortably.
Dr Kinyanjui also noted that the partnership with KUTRRH will cascade the services to counties and sub-county levels adding that it will facilitate training of 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 care.
Meanwhile, Dr Gura and Dr Kinyanjui rallied Kenyans to register under the National Health insurance scheme, SHA, saying that treating the deformity, which costs about sh 90,000 is costly especially to Kenyans at the bottom of the pyramid.
“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.
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