The Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) has announced the completion of a Smile Train mission. According to a GPHC release yesterday, over the past weekend, July 12 to 15, a team of surgeons from the Plastic Surgery and Maxillofacial Department successfully conducted four cleft palate repairs and three cleft lip repair surgeries, bringing smiles to the faces of the young patients.
Children from ages 13 months to 12 years benefitted from the cleft palate surgeries, and those aged five to seven months received cleft lip repairs.
The release pointed out that this marks the third mission for the year, and is an example of the routine nature of the services offered by the local Smile Train team. It disclosed that the local team now operates independently, without the need for an international surgical team, showcasing their growing expertise and self-sufficiency.
It informed that in 2023, the Georgetown Public Hospital earned certification as a Smile Train Centre. Smile Train is an international non-profit organisation that partners with hospitals worldwide, providing resources, knowledge, and skills to local partner hospitals and doctors for long-term sustainability in treating cleft conditions.
Further, since 2019, GPHC has partnered with Smile Train with the goal of correcting cleft lips when patients are at least three months old, and palates when they are at least nine months old, provided they are in good health.
Cleft lips and palates are birth defects characterised by one or more fissures in the lip and/or palate due to failure to unite during embryonic development.
So far 83 patients have benefitted from surgical cleft care surgeries at the hospital. It should be noted that accessing these life-changing interventions is easy and free of cost, and in addition, GPHC offers nutritional and psychological support as well as speech therapy to aid in the recovery of these young patients and their families.
The GPHC expressed pride in their team and the progress made in providing these essential services to the public. It advises that persons needing more information or access to these services, should contact the Georgetown Public Hospital, the release added.
