Chronicle Editor
Andile Tshuma, Chronicle Reporter
MPILO Central Hospital in Bulawayo is set to have a special bone and ligament clinic for people living with disabilities and victims of road accidents.
A team of orthopaedic surgeons from Austria has expressed interest in setting up the facility at the hospital. They intend to run two clinics annually where they will conduct surgeries on accident victims and also on people born with disabilities that can be corrected through surgery.
Orthopaedic surgery is a special treatment which involves treating accident victims with bone fractures through joining broken bones with metals and screws to restore mobility and other physical functions of the body. It is also performed on people born with physical disabilities who may need surgery to place support structures such as metals on bones and joints to strengthen them.
Orthopaedic surgeons are devoted to the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of disorders of the bones, joints, ligaments, tendons and muscles. They explore nonsurgical options first, such as pain medication or rehabilitation. They also have the expertise to perform surgery to repair an injury or correct a condition, if necessary.
Mpilo Central Hospital Clinical Director Dr Solwayo Ngwenya said the doctors were working on the logistics and registration paper work that will enable them to work in Zimbabwe. He said their services will be free.
“They treated a Zimbabwean who had been involved in an accident and had become disabled in their country, Austria. They then took an interest in our country through their experience with him and decided to visit Bulawayo, and our hospital in particular. We had a very good and fruitful meeting and this clinic will touch the lives of many people. We have a lot of people who have suffered disability after being involved in accidents and are unable to go through restorative surgery because the facilities are unavailable locally and are too expensive elsewhere. Therefore, having this special clinic will enable people to get healed and be well again so that they continue to be able to fend for their families productively,” he said.
He said the hospital needed special equipment surgery and skills to deal with disability and said the skills exchange that will happen when the Austrian doctors train Mpilo staff will help them to deal with disability and specialised surgery.
Dr Ngwenya said the clinic will run in similar manner to the annual cleft lip and pallet surgery conducted at the hospital. “They will not come here to take over Mpilo, no. They will come to share skills and knowledge with us, bring in some donated equipment which we will help them to clear with Customs.” — @andile_tshuma.
Online Reporter