Chronicle Editor
Thandeka Moyo, Health Reporter
THIS year’s Operation of Hope cleft lip surgical mission in Zimbabwe will be in honour of the late music icon Dr Oliver Mtukudzi with about 80 children set to benefit from the event next month.
The organisation comprises volunteer American and Canadian surgical experts who from 2006 have been conducting free surgeries at Mpilo and Harare Central Hospitals.
Cleft lip and cleft palate are birth defects that occur when a baby’s lip or mouth do not form properly during pregnancy. Together, these birth defects are commonly called “orofacial clefts”.
In an interview, their Zimbabwean volunteer nurse Ms Martha Pamire said the operations are set for May in both hospitals and encouraged members of the public to book their children for the procedure.
“The late icon’s daughter Ms Selmor Mtukudzi and her husband Tendai have attended so many of our screening days and offered to play for patients for free whilst they wait to be screened and booked. They have become family to us and our team used to attend some of their shows and have come to love the late icon,” she said. – @thamamoe
Online Reporter