ZAMBIA: Zambian children receive free surgery at new hospital in Lusaka

Basic healthcare in Zambia has received a shot in the arm, thanks to the establishment of a hospital offering surgery to children with physical disabilities. Zambian mothers who have children with physical disfigurements are flocking to a hospital in Lusaka that is offering free surgeries. An American surgeon, Dr. Louis Carter, is on a two-week visit to the Cure International hospital and is expected to operate on as many as 100 children during the visit. Carter, a specialist in plastic and hand surgery, works on a voluntary basis with Christian medical and dental associations and has already successfully performed a number of operations at the newly-opened hospital situated on the outskirts of Zambia's capital, Lusaka. The surgeon has been dealing mainly with cleft lip repairs but also intends to carry out reconstructive surgery on people scarred by severe burns or children suffering from hydrocephalus, a condition where the head enlarges when cerebrospinal fluid accumulates in the brain. Today, his patient is 7-year-old, Sibeso Munalalu, who has a cleft lip. Although Carter says cleft lip operations are best done before a child is 10 weeks old, he thinks he can still make a difference. "This child is 7. So, he is really a lot older than he should be. He should have been operated on long ago. It's still okay," he said. Manulalu comes from Sesheke, a remote area in Zambia's western province, 482 kilometers (299 miles) from Lusaka. People in his village think don't look kindly on people in his condition, believing it to be caused by witchcraft. Carter explains that though doctors do not exactly know why a baby develops cleft lip or cleft palate, it is usually associated to a combination of genetic inheritance or environmental factors such as the use of certain drugs or the use of alcohol and tobacco whilst a woman is pregnant. In Zambia, the biggest problem to date for most children is inaccessibility to proper health care for those living in rural areas and poverty. This denies them reconstructive surgery within the first 12 to 18 months. The hospital, however, does not just offer health care. Poor families who take their children to the hospital are also taught various skills such as tie-dyeing techniques, to make them more self sufficient. "Materials, normally they are just plain like this. Then, they tie them and they dip them in dye. They become something like this which they can sell at 100 percent profit. So, it's something. A skill which is very profitable, which can sustain them," explained pastor Harold Haamumba, the hospital chaplain. In 2004, Cure International signed an agreement with the Zambian government to establish and operate a hospital specialising in the treatment and care of children living with physical disabilities. The Beit Trust charity provided 1.5 million US dollars for construction while the Zambian government donated land for the hospital site. The hospital is expected to improve the lives of thousands of Zambians who previously had expected to live with their deformities - and the associated stigma - for the rest of their lives.

ITN Source | November 7, 2007

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