Successful plastic surgeries put smiles on patients

It was all joy and smiles as people who suffered burns and had other deformities successfully underwent plastic surgeries at Mpilo Central Hospital this week.

The operations are being done for the first time in Bulawayo spearheaded by a team of six surgeons who arrived at the hospital on Sunday from Parirenyatwa Hospital in Harare for a week-long programme which began on Monday and ends today.

Mpilo Central Hospital CEO Mr Leonard Mabandi said there were plans to bring the plastic surgery unit permanently to the hospital.

So far plastic surgeries can only be done at Parirenyatwa Hospital where there is a permanent facility.

“The surgeons will make visits to Mpilo once a year for now, but there are plans to establish a permanent presence in due course, as we have seen that the service is in such great demand, decentralisation is necessary,” said Mr Mabandi.

Mr Smile Ngwenya (21), who suffered burns during an epileptic attack last year said he could now stretch his legs following the surgery.

“I had an epileptic attack last year as I was seated next to a fire at my home in Lupane. I suffered burns that my doctors described as third degree burns and my legs constricted as a result. I had now become paralysed and could not stretch my feet. I am happy I have benefited from this,” he said.

Another patient, Mr Mbekezeli Ngwenya (27) of Nketa suburb whose face was disfigured in a car accident, was all smiles as he now has a new look.

“I could not bear looking at myself in the mirror or imagine what people thought of me. I cannot express my joy about my new look,” said Mr Ngwenya when The Chronicle news crew visited him in his ward.

Shamiso Gumbo from Kumalo suburb said her eight- year-old daughter was still in theatre, but was positive that her condition would improve after she suffered severe burns on her hands and face.

The girl’s hands, which shrunk after she was scalded by boiling water while playing in the kitchen, were the worst affected.

The head of the team of surgeons, Professor Godfrey Muguti of the University of Zimbabwe Medical School, said the service was in great demand in the country.

“This service is in such huge demand and at the moment we are not coping. It is only done in Harare and people have to travel long distances from around the county to access it at the Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals,” said Prof Muguti, speaking after a theatre session.

“We want to decentralise the service and reach out to other cities. We are trying to make the service more available, especially to the less privileged in society. Plastic surgery and reconstructive surgery haven’t been generally much available to the public in Zimbabwe and that should change.”

Prof Muguti said a school of reconstructive surgery was opened at the UZ Medical School and the first group graduated in 2015 from the five-year programme.

He said they were offering free services to people with deformities.

“This is not for people who just want to change the colour of their skin, or the size of certain body parts. We are not targeting people who just want to improve how they look but our focus is on people with real problems and deformities that need assistance,” said Prof Muguti. The Chronicle