We need education to end stigma against cleft lip/palate patients

By Afedzi Abdullah/ Winifred Sekyibea Abakah, GNA    

Cape Coast, July 09, GNA – Dr Opoku Ware Ampomah, Director of the National Burns and Reconstructive Plastic Surgery Centre, at the Korle- Bu Teaching Hospital, has stressed the need for a more aggressive education towards ending the stigma against persons with cleft lip and palate conditions.

He has also called for a comprehensive programme to treat people who were unfortunately born with the cleft lip, cleft palate and other related conditions because the quality of the society was about how the vulnerable were treated and not the increase in GDP or per capita income.

According to him, though cases of cleft lips were common in the country, stigma continues to be a major barrier to seeking treatment as well as getting data.

This is as a result of the fact that people with such conditions are continually treated with contempt, denied attention and many are considered children of river gods.

A cleft palate is a split or opening in the roof of the mouth and can involve the hard palate (the bony front portion of the roof of the mouth), and/or the soft palate (the soft back portion of the roof of the mouth).

Dr Ampomah made the call when Operation Smile International, a not-for-profit medical services organisation, undertook free reconstructive surgery for 30 children and adults born with cleft lip and palate defect at the Cape Coast Teaching Hospital.

“The condition has a lot of stigma attached to it and the society must do something to help address it because the quality of the society is about how we treat those who are vulnerable,” he said.

Dr Ampomah, Head of “Operation Smile” Team, said although cleft lips and palates were just physical defects which could be corrected successfully, most people in such conditions often lived in isolation with very low expectation due to ignorance and stigma.

“In many families, children with cleft lips and palates are seen as demons. They are abandoned in a room, starved until they die and then buried secretly,” he said and added that the condition had nothing to do with demons and God.

“In our part of the World, when you are born with a deformity, the cards are stuck so highly against you that you may never be able to attain your full potentials because of the stigma and all the negativity attached to it,” he added.

According to Dr Ampomah one out of every 1,500 live births in Ghana were born with a cleft lip or palate, however, treatment was done only in Accra, Kumasi and Cape Coast and with only 15 reconstructive surgeons they were unable to treat these children in their environment.

Children with the condition are also confronted with other medical challenges which required a multidisciplinary team made up of nurses, surgeons, nutritionist, dentist, speech therapist among others.

In this regard, he said “Operation Smile” approached the issues comprehensively by engaging multidisciplinary professionals in its operations to ensure the total treatment and well-being of patients after surgery.

He advised pregnant women to desist from taking unprescribed medications and concoctions.

Dr Eric Ngyedu, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Cape Coast Teaching Hospital (CCTH), explained that funding for such surgeries were expensive since it involved a multidisciplinary approach and therefore patients were unable to afford.

He said the Hospital hoped to make the exercise an annual programme as it continued to build the capacity of its staff to be able to manage such cases at the facility.

Some of the beneficiaries of the cleft surgery shared their experience with the GNA on how the defect affected their social lives and expressed gratitude to Operation Smile International for putting smiles on their faces.

GNA

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