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| Cleft lip Before Cleft lip After |
Story: Mary Ankrah
Operation Smile and Lions Clubs International in Ghana have provided free surgery to 111 cleft lip and palate patients at Ridge Hospital in Accra.
Most of those operated upon were children. In all, the ppatients were aged between six months to 67.
About 270 patients who came from all parts of the country were screened in two days, while the surgery took five days.
Operation Smile is a non-profit volunteer medical services organization while members of the of the Lions Clubs in Ghana belong to an international service organization known as the Lions Clubs International (LCI), with headquarters in Illinois, Chicago in the United States of America, which provides support for the needy or the disadvantaged people.
The exercise, which sought to put smile on the faces of the patients, attracted sponsorship and support from MTN Ghana, Ghana Health Service, Ministry of Health-Ghana, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Coconut Groove Regency Hotel, Metro Mass Transit and Fiesta Royale Hotel. Others were Merchant Bank Ghana Limited, Enterprise Insurance Company (EIC) and Fan Milk Ghana Limited, among others.
The free surgery involved over 50 medical volunteers from Ghana, United States, Canada, Ireland, United Kingdom, Italy, Russia, Sweden, Denmark, Kenya and India.
A similar exercise was successfully undertaken by Operation Smile in collaboration with Lions Clubs of Ghana and other stakeholders last year.
Briefing journalists at a press conference at the end of the surgeries in Accra, the Programmes Manager of Operation Smile incharge of Africa, Mrs Kia Guarino, said the move formed part of the organisation’s medical humanitarian activities that had been rolled-out in more than 60 countries including Ghana.
Mrs Guarino one in 1,000 babies was born each year with a cleft lip and, or cleft palate, and 1 in 10 of these children die before age one, due to the inability to pay the cost of surgery.
Mrs Guarino said cleft lip and palate were birth defects that occurred when a baby was developing in the uterus, adding that between the sixth and 10th week of pregnancy, the bones and tissues of a baby's upper jaw, nose, and mouth normally get fused to form the roof of the mouth and the upper lip.
She said many children with cleft palate were prone to the build-up of fluid in the middle ear or ear infection which could cause hearing loss and dental problems such as small teeth, loss of teeth, extra teeth or mal-position teeth.
In a speech read on behalf of the District Governor, District 403- A2 of LCI, Mrs Gloria Lassey, by Miss Nana Esi Parry, District Secretary, Mrs Lassey said the two bodies believed that no child born with cleft lip or other facial deformity should live in pain and isolation when the deformation could be corrected through surgery.
The district governor said reports have it that in certain places children with such deformity were not given the needed attention; they were neglected and mostly starved, leaving them malnourished with the excuse that they were evil or carry bad luck.
In addition, Mrs Lassey noted that cleft and palate children in most instances were given little or no education at all, which led to very devastating results, and therefore “ encouraged Ghanaians to help the less privileged in any way they could because government could not do it all alone”.
For her part, the Corporate Services Executive of MTN Ghana, Mrs Cynthia Lumor, said MTN was pleased to be associated with the exercise due to the potential impact it would have on the lives of the beneficiaries.
“The idea of these corrective surgeries has come as a relief to the patients and their loved ones because due to the benevolence of the team of medical and other professionals, they could all smile without burdening themselves with the cost associated with the restoration process”, she observed.
Mrs Lumor opined that the humiliation and stigmatisation that most of the cleft patients had faced with their families and loved ones would now be a thing of the past, adding that they will be able to venture into the world with no fear of stigmatisation to fulfill their lives’ dreams.
The Development Manager of Operation Smile, inchage of East and West Africa, Miss Flaminia and Agostini expressed gratitutde to Ghana Lions, MTN Ghana, the managements of Coconut Grove Regency Hotel, Ghana Health Service, the Ministry of Health, Fiesta Royale, Fan Milk Ghana Limited and all the sponsors, as well as the Ghanaian medical team for their immense support towards the successful execution of the surgery.
The Miss Universe Ghana 2011, Miss Yayra Nego also applauded the efforts of Operation Smile and Lions Clubs, as well as MTN Ghana as well and others for mobilizing resources to undertake such project that had brought happiness to many homes.
Since 1982, Operation Smile through the help of dedicated medical volunteers, is said to have provided more than two million patient evaluations and 200,000 free surgeries for children and young adults born with cleft lip, cleft palate and other facial deformities
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