DESPERATE parents have been traveling from Bulawayo and rural Matabeleland to Harare for life-changing cleft lip surgeries for their babies.
Public hospitals in southern Zimbabwe do not provide the surgeries because of a lack of specialists.
Operation of Hope, which provides the services for free, will provide the free surgeries at Mpilo hospital in Bulawayo between May 4 and 12.
Operation of Hope chief executive,Jennifer Trubenbach, said they were touched by the plight of parents from Matabeleland seeking the services for their babies in Harare.
“We had been in Harare at Sally Mugabe Hospital and realised that some of the patients were coming from Victoria Falls,” Trubenbach said in an interview.
“To make it easier for them to travel we accepted the offer of invitation to come to Mpilo Hospital.
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“The administration and local staff have partnered incredibly well with us and we look forward to working with them again.
“All surgeries are done for free, including doctor’s fees, hospital fees, and medications.”
Bulawayo provincial medical director Maphios Siamuchembu urged local doctors to participate in the exercise to get the necessary skills “so that we have more sustained access to this kind of surgery to our people.”