Wau, 09 July, 2021 / 1:58 pm (ACI Africa).
At least 50 South Sudanese living with cleft lips are expected to undergo surgery at Mary Help Hospital of the Catholic Diocese of Wau.
The surgeries that started on Monday, July 5 are being realized through the partnership between South Sudan’s Ministry of Health in Western Bhar el Ghazal State and the Kenya-based Bela Risu Foundation.
“In collaboration with Mary Help Hospital and the Ministry of Health, we were targeting 80 patients but because of some unavoidable circumstances, we will be able to operate around 50 patients,” the Project Director of Bela Risu Foundation, Abdul Hakim Kimani told journalists Wednesday, July 7.
Mr. Kimani added that the surgeries, which are done free of charge, are "based on giving the patients dignity so that they can live a normal life and also giving that freedom of walking everywhere or interacting with people freely without fear of being marginalized or discriminated (against).”
“If a patient has a cleft palate, we fix the cleft lip," he said, adding that patients with cleft palates "can always contact Mary Help Hospital then they would be given the exact date of coming here and of doing a follow up to operate on the cleft part.”
