Story by Kenias Chivuzhe.
A five-day free paediatric hernia surgical camp hosted by Victoria Chitepo Provincial Hospital in Mutare has brought relief to families whose children have been suffering from the condition for up to ten years.
There is an overwhelming response to the free paediatric hernia surgical camp this week where 100 children will be attended to.
Adrial Chikanga’s mother Rozaria Maida from Marondera is one of the appreciative parents after it took six years for her son to get the necessary assistance, “I came to Marondera after receiving information on the hernia camp. My child was suffering for the past 6 years. He would vomit after eating giving him torrid times. Due to illness he only managed to attend school for a few days this term.
Parents from across the country, whose children benefited from the free surgery, are grateful for the noble initiative.
“My child had a hernia problem since he was one year old. This affected his schoolwork as he could not attend lessons regularly,” said a parent.
“My child developed the condition when he was still three months, only to be operated at 7 years old. I want to thank the government for its assistance,” added another.
Doctors running the surgical camp spoke on the progress made so far, revealing that similar initiatives will be conducted in future to reduce the national hernia burden that runs into thousands.
Paediatric Surgeon, Dr Precious Mutambanengwe said, “We have a huge surgical burden in our country. We are targeting a hundred children, but our waiting list spun over a thousand children across the country. Our aim is to accelerate access to surgical anaesthetic care for the people of Zimbabwe and this camp is targeting children who have hernia.”
Consultant anaesthetist Dr Ruvimbo Saunyama noted, “Even though our screening was done yesterday children keep coming which indicates to us the great need. We will try and include them on our list, but time is our limiting factor. There is a register for all the children that have come, and the plan is to have other camps hopefully resources allowing.”
The decentralisation of medical care is a government priority with timely, affordable, safe and quality surgical services well-captured under the National Development Strategy One.
The programme is being conducted by the Ministry of Health and Child Care with financial and technical support from the government of Japan, the World Health Organisation, the United Nations Children’s Fund, Celebration Health and Smile Train International.
