www.Kisii.Com: Syndicated news from only reputable sources [Nation, and Standard Newspapers, Kenya Times, KBC, etc.]

Having the last laugh, after years of stinging ridicule

Details

Published on Monday, 01 November 2010 23:51

For the past 60 years, Paustine Kemunto dreaded looking in the mirror because of a malformed upper lip. She also has had to contend with teasing from her peers in Bomachoge Chache in Kisii County.

"People referred to me as Nyakeng’ang’o (Kisii for dented lips), Kemunto told journalists at Kisii Level Five Hospital at the weekend, after undergoing a successful operation to fix her condition, known medically cleft palate.

Dr Meshack Ong’uti with some of the 35 beneficiaries of the medical camp that he participated in, fixing cleft palates.

When she finally did, she burst into tears of joy. "I never thought this possible... I am reborn. I thank our doctors for this wonderful effort," she said.

Kemunto was one of the 35 beneficiaries in the week-long medical camp organised by Help A Child Face Tomorrow, a non-governmental organisation, in conjunction with Africa Medical Research Foundation (Amref) and Kisii Level Five Hospital.

For Anthony Ouru, 43, the whole procedure and the pleasant result was nothing short of a miracle.

"My wife is very happy. Fellow women used to ridicule her about my condition. They said I looked like a hyena, which made me hate myself," Ouru said.

When Ouru arrived for a medical review, he was in a smart suit that conveyed his new and growing confidence.

The Kisii Level Five Hospital’s medical superintendent, Dr Geoffrey Otomu, said patients between the ages of three months and 60 years, some from as far as Garissa in Northern Kenya were successfully operated on to rectify cleft lips.

Blaming Witchcraft

"Most people didn’t know malformed lips could be corrected surgically. Others associated it with witchcraft," Otomu added.

Consultant surgeon in the project, Dr Meshack Ong’uti, said cleft palates were still afflicting many Kenyans as roots causes had not been addressed.

Ong’uti lamented that the patients had been denied a normal life but they could now face the community as they had been rescued from the blemishes that prevented them from active participation in nation building.

A nursing officer at the Level Five Hospital, who also benefited from corrective surgery, said he had seeking surgical help for some ten years.

"Simply because cleft palates don’t kill, it does not mean they are not diseases...patients are hidden from public, children don’t go to school while name-calling is the order of the day for them," Ong’uti observed.

Can’t eat or talk

Onguti told The Standard: "The implications of cleft palates are devastating. Children can’t talk, eat or go to school. If we knew the actual cause, we would prevent them." Onguti, volunteer doctors M Khan and Joshua Wehstein, who led the exercise, said the said the procedure required experienced surgeons and cost between Sh70,000 and Sh100,000. The doctors and a host of nurses and other specialists stayed in theatre from 7am to 9.30 pm for seven straight days to operate on the patients.

Ong’uti said this was the first time such a camp was being held in a rural set up where the majority of patients are. He added cleft palate incidence could be minimised if expectant mothers took balanced diets in the first three to four months of pregnancy.

He said Kisii Level Five hospital would be made a regional centre where patients with cleft palate would undergo corrective surgery every three months as the facility has the latest facilities to perform the procedure.

Similar campaigns started some ten years ago under the auspices of Operation Smile. Medical experts say malnutrition is a major cause of malformed lips but most of the factors are largely environmental. Smoke belching vehicles, alcohol, smoking tobacco also contribute to the condition.

Pregnancy Early Days

Cleft palate is hereditary in families with history of the disease. Mothers not aware of their pregnancy and take some medication in early days of conception could also expose the unborn to the problem of cleft palate.