By Lydia Ngoolo
Smile Train Programme Director for East Africa Jane Ngige Muturi has said they are focused on offering education to the public that children born with cleft lip and palate are normal and should not be stigmatized or discriminated.
Cleft lip and palate are openings or splits in the upper lip or the roof of the mouth or both. They occur when facial structures that develop in an unborn baby do not form completely, causing speech and breathing difficulties.
Speaking during the launch of newly refurbished pediatric theatre in Makueni County and Referral Hospital, she revealed that treatment of such diseases are very expensive and they(Smile Train) are there to offer it free of charge to children as it affects their education and social life.
“With the opening of this theatre, we will ensure continuous treatment to children born with cleft lip and palate and give them a second chance to smile since they usually isolate themselves and live in shame,” said Muturi.
In 2020, the organization opened 20 pediatric theatres across Africa. So far 1.5 million patients have been reached worldwide and about 11,000 in Kenya have been given another chance to smile so far.
She called for much love and appreciation to such patients since no one wishes to have a birth defect.
Makueni Governor Kivutha Kibwana disclosed that the cost of the theatre was Sh18 million and will offer surgery and anesthesia services to children, thus ensuring easy access to medication.
He appreciated Smile Train Programme for the initiative, saying it is one of the best.
“Public should be seriously educated and enlightened that cleft lip and palate is all about biological condition and no witchcraft involved,” Kibwana said.
The governor added that there is need for continuous work and education to show that discrimination of people with such conditions was not good at all.
The nurse in charge of Makueni Mother and Child Nursing Hospital Loise Nzilani Muthami appealed to all parents with such children to bring them for permanent correction.
“As a midwife, it always becomes a birth disaster when a mother gives birth to a child with deformity and you have to hand their children to them not knowing their reaction upon seeing the child. We always guide and counsel them,” Nzilani said.
She expressed her happiness that the theatre was fully equipped.
