OPERATION of Hope and bottling company Schweppes Holdings Africa Limited, are back again this year, offering free corrective cleft lip surgeries at Mpilo Central Hospital in Bulawayo.
The free surgeries will specifically cater for those with cleft lip, cleft palate and other facially-related operations.
The Operation of Hope is a combination of United States and Canadian doctors.
In an interview during the surgeries on Saturday, Schweppes Holdings corporate affairs executive Ropafadzo Gwanetsa told Southern Eye that the number of doctors to perform the surgeries this year had increased.
“This year we are back again and we are targeting to do 100 surgeries of cleft palate. The surgeries are starting tomorrow (yesterday) and screening started today (Saturday). This year we have got a team of 38 doctors that came through from the United States and Canada for the 14-day mission,” Gwanetsa said.
She said they were there to support the health sector in any way they could.
“We, as Schweppes, support in terms of most of the facilities that they need, obviously the health care facility being provided for by Mpilo and support from the relevant authorities.
“We are coming through as the private sector to assist with everything else that’s needed for the surgeries to happen, financial, human resources, in terms of our staff participating in the mission, so we came together and put resources together so that the mission is successful,” she said.
- Delta pays US$20m sugar tax in 9 months
- Operation of Hope brings 38 doctors for cleft lip surgeries
Keep Reading
Gwanetsa said Schweppes had refurbished a ward at Mpilo Central Hospital and this year they would make sure all the provisions were available for a successful mission.
Approximately 450 beneficiaries had their smiles successfully restored after they received free cleft lip or palate surgeries, facilitated by Operation of Hope, a project underway at Mpilo Hospital in Bulawayo last year.
The surgeries were disrupted during the COVID-19 pandemic.
