Surgery that brings smiles
Operation Smile provides hope to children with cleft palates
22 August 2024 - 05:00
More South Africans with cleft palates could be spared physical and emotional pain if there were a larger number of specialised surgeons to operate on them, medical experts say. The country has only 10 maxillofacial surgeons and 20 plastic surgeons doing this surgery and only 10 treatment clinics where this common birth condition can be dealt with.
The resources crisis in health care, affecting especially anaesthetists and theatre nurses, reduces theatre availability and the time for hands-on collegial teaching...
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