Chronicle Editor
Lumbidzani Dima / Mkhululi Ncube, Chronicle Reporters
FEAR and happiness prevailed at Mpilo Central Hospital paediatric department recently as parents of children with hernia watched their young ones going in and out of the theatre.
A total of 100 children benefited from free hernia surgeries that were conducted at the hospital, a programme undertaken with the support of the Celebration Church under its Celebration Health arm targeting children below the age of 16 years with groin, scrotal and umbilical hernia.
When a Chronicle news crew visited the hospital last Friday, some parents were eagerly waiting for news from the theatre while others were waiting for their children’s turn to go in.
The parents who came from various corners of the country expressed their heartfelt gratitude to the church for helping them, after a long stay on the waiting list.
Ms Sithokozile Bhebhe from Bulawayo’s Entumbane suburb said her daughter had umbilical hernia since birth, but she was failing to raise funds for her operation.
“I feel happy and nervous at the same time about this surgery because I don’t know what the outcome will be, but I’m hoping for the best.
Once it’s done, I know that all problems would have gone, seeing your child in that condition without a way out is painful.
We appreciate these free surgeries as we could not even raise the money for it,” she said.
Ms Tendai Mpofu, a mother to a five-year-old boy who suffered from groin hernia since he was three days old, came all the way from Zvishavane in the Midlands province for the free surgery.
She said they had consulted a private surgeon who charged them US$1000, an amount they could not afford.
“The hernia was discovered at three days, then they were referring us to come back for checkups whenever I was taking him to the baby clinic.
The hernia had not reduced when he was 1 year and 6 months old, then they said we should consult a surgeon at Gweru, and my baby was booked.
It was the Covid lockdown so from then I never got a call or message from them until now.
When I saw the poster for these free surgeries, I took the opportunity right away,” she said.
“Whenever the temperatures were low, the ball would swell, he would even vomit and have fever, so I could not let this opportunity slip through my hands.
I hope everything will now be good.”
Ms Jane Chawa from Gwanda in Matabeleland South said it seems her 10-year-old son was born with a hernia but they realised it when he was 1 year and 6 months.
“All along I was just monitoring him waiting for such opportunities.
This whole thing feels so good,” she said.
Ms Simangaliso Sibanda from Tsholotsho in Matabeleland North province brought her 8-year-old son for the surgery.
She said her son cried due to pain from the age of two years when the hernia was detected.
Mr Henson Machemedze came from Chivhu, in Mashonaland East with his 10-year-old grandson.
“This problem affected him a lot, he would miss school for days because of it.
Once he took food or once the stomach was empty, he would cry in pain.
It started when he was six years old, when we wanted to book, they would tell us that it’s fully booked, so we are happy that finally all this will vanish,” he said.
Mpilo Central Hospital Senior pediatrician in charge of the program, Dr Sithandweyinkosi Mushunje said resources limited the number of children that were attended to as they had to turn others away.
She said they did 20 operations per day for five days.
“We decided to conduct it in Bulawayo as we have been having hernia weeks in Harare being sponsored by Celebration Health, an organisation under Celebration Church.
We had a very long list of children who were waiting for this hernia operation and the Covid-19 situation did not help in clearing them because we have been running on an abnormal schedule for quite some time with only emergency operations taking place,” she said.
“This program comes as a way of clearing the waiting list.
We targeted to operate on 100 children this week and everything has been going on well.
We couldn’t get all of the children who were on the waiting list so the 100 includes the people who started registering with us when they saw the flyer about the program.”
Dr Mushunje said while hernia affects all children, it is more common in boys and children born prematurely as 30 percent of them are likely to get it.
She said there are different types of the condition which affects various parts of the body and can lead to fatality if uncorrected.
“There are several types of hernias that we deal with, the common ones are inguinal hernias, and this occurs in the groin and can go into the scrotum as well.
We also deal with umbilical hernias and hernia in other parts of the body like the abdominal region.
The problem with a hernia is that it allows intestines to come out of their normal confine which is the abdomen and they visit areas where there is potential for intestines to get stuck there, and if they do get stuck it becomes problematic and potentially fatal, that is why when a child has hernia it should be repaired before such a catastrophic event happens,” added Dr Mushunje.
“Often, we do attend to these children when they come in as emergencies with an obstructed hernia when the intestines are now stuck in the hernias, which is actually not the ideal situation because they can actually die from that.
Therefore, it’s important to attend to them before they get stuck.”
Dr Mushunje said many children are born with hernia and some continue waiting for surgery until they become adults due to resource challenges.
“Hernia should not affect fertility although if it does get obstructed and there is a delay in correcting that obstruction, the testis on that side can also die, but if the other testis on the other side is normal, they should still have a near normal fertility.
If the other testis dies and there is already a problem with the contralateral side then of course it will affect fertility.
One testis is good enough to make children,” she said.
Dr Mushunje said before conducting the programme, the hospital still attended to a limited number of children with the problem.
She said parents with children having such a problem must come to Mpilo to make a booking.
“We are appealing for more partners to assist us to help children with the condition.
A lot of people are not aware that outside this program the hospital conducts surgeries.
They must come and register so that when their turn comes, they are attended to,” she said.
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