MySchool MyVillage MyPlanet joined forces with Operation Smile to get 27 people off the surgical backlog in Mbombela and it was a huge success!
Mbombela, South Africa (22 May 2023) – 27 lives changed this past weekend when medical volunteers from all over South Africa, arrived at the Rob Ferreira Hospital in Mbombela. The teams worked on a three-day surgical programme from the 19th to the 21st of May 2023.
Operation Smile South Africa, in partnership with the Mpumalanga Department of Health and supported by MySchool MyVillage MyPlanet, came together to transform the lives of 27 people needing cleft lip and cleft palate surgeries.
According to Operation Smile, it is estimated that a child is born somewhere in the world with a cleft every three minutes, making it the third most common birth defect.
Ideally, corrective surgery should be carried out within the first 18 months of life. In many parts of South Africa where the public health system is overburdened and under-resourced, safe surgery is not always freely available or accessible, and a child may have to wait years for the chance to live a normal life. Without surgery, children with clefts face serious and debilitating long-term health problems and will likely suffer from emotional abuse and isolation.
“The longer a child born with a cleft must wait for surgery, the more serious their health, developmental and psychological problems will likely be. The good news is that cleft conditions can be surgically repaired in as little as 45 minutes by a specialist medical team,” explains Sarah Scarth, the Executive Director of Operation Smile South Africa.
“We believe everyone born with a cleft deserves access to safe surgery and comprehensive care. We are committed to reducing cleft surgical waiting times and are very pleased to be working with the Mpumalanga Department of Health and Rob Ferreira Hospital to provide high-quality cleft care at no cost to those in the province and surrounding areas,” says Scarth.
The Mpumalanga Department of Health said it was excited about the surgical programme, as correcting the cleft improves the child’s quality of life and their ability to eat, breathe and talk. Surgery helps improve the person’s physical appearance, and can also help improve secondary impacts of the conditions, such as hearing and speech and language development.
“As a Department we take pride in our children and we aim to bring back the smile on the faces of our young generation,” said the MEC for Health in Mpumalanga, Ms Sasekani Manzini, who welcomed the partnership with Operation Smile.
The Operation Smile’s team of volunteers, comprised of specialist plastic and reconstructive surgeons, anaesthetists, paediatricians, nurses, dentists, speech therapists and psychosocial professionals who travelled to Mpumalanga from across the country to team up with medical staff at Rob Ferreira Hospital in Mbombela. On Friday 19 May, they conducted patient screening with surgeries taking place all day on Saturday 20 and Sunday 21 May 2023. Each young patient and their parent or guardian received the highest quality of compassionate care at no cost. This included transport, accommodation, meals, medical evaluations, surgeries, and post-surgical evaluations such as speech and dental.
In addition to the surgical intervention, the weekend programme provided an opportunity for education and training of local medical professionals and surgical registrars.
“All this is made possible thanks to our committed volunteers and our generous supporters who are moved every day to partner with us to make a difference in the lives of children they’ve never met,” says Scarth.
“The MySchool MyVillage MyPlanet program is all about making a difference – and there are few things more life-changing than being able to offer transformational surgery to young people in need,” says MySchool MyVillage MyPlanet General Manager, Pieter Twine.
“Operation Smile does phenomenal work and we’re excited to be able to partner with them – off the back of no-cost donations by our members –to bring safe surgery to these children and their families in Mpumalanga and to support the education and training of local medical professionals through the transfer of key surgical skills and techniques”.
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