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Nine successful cleft surgeries done independently at GPHC
Two for the beneficiaries of the surgical cleft lip correction.
Kaieteur News – The Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) completed nine successful cleft surgeries: six being cleft lips and three being cleft palates last weekend.
The cleft repairs were made possible by the Corporation’s plastic surgery and maxillofacial teams in collaboration with Smile Train, an international charity.
The institution secured its Smile Certification as a Smile Train Center last year marking its fourth year of successful partnership to provide life changing surgical intervention.
In 2019, GPHC’s Smile Train journey began under the guidance of Dr. Louise LaBerge and Dr. Richard Raker. Dr. Rajkumar, Dr. Aguila, and Dr. Arturo were trained in cleft lip, cleft palate, and anaesthetic care, respectively.
In 2023, GPHC started to conduct in-house surgical and anaesthetic capabilities for cleft patients and the three doctors who were trained are now educating their colleagues with the aim of improving capacity-building at the public institution.
In 2022, GPHC expanded its services to include Nutrition and Speech therapy components. The nutritionists work closely with patients to achieve feeding goals and improve overall health.
Parents and caregivers of children with clefts are also educated on specialized feeding techniques to navigate their unique anatomy. Following palatoplasty, speech therapy is administered to enhance the speech development of the young patients.
Kaieteur News understands that the correction of cleft lips is performed at three months old and cleft palates are done at nine months once the patients are in good health.
The GPHC to date has completed corrections surgically for 71 patients, including 41 primary unilateral cleft lip repairs, eight primary bilateral lip repairs, 39 cleft palate repairs, six oronasal fistula repairs, and one alveolar bone grafting.
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