A team of senior British doctors will perform free surgeries for cleft-lip and cleft palate patients, from October 22-28 in Gujrat. The plastic surgeries, treatment, medicines, hospitalisation, stay and food will be arranged by Pakistan Cleft Lip and Palate Association (PCLAPA), which is involved in this charitable work since 1996.
According to the PCLAPA, the patients will be examined, treated and operated upon at Bashir Hospital, Gujrat between October 22 to 28. The patients will also be examined in Islamabad on October 20 at 9 am, at House 7, Street 13, Sector F-8/3. The best results of cleft lip surgery are ensured if the children are operated upon when they are three months to one year old.
Dr. Ijaz Bashir, Secretary General of PCLAPA, said it will be 28th free medical camp for cleft lip and cleft palate patients.
PCLAPA has already arranged 27 similar camps during the past 16 years. So far, 2,405 children have been operated upon with 100 percent success and completely cured. Their entire lives have changed since then. More than 11,250 children were examined at the camps. Dr. Akhtar Rahman, President of PCLAPA's Islamabad chapter, said patients are now being registered for surgery. Dr. Akhtar is former Director and Administrator of King Fahd Hospital, Taif, Saudi Arabia. The surgery cures and helps patients with a cut lip or cut palate, or both-a disability that badly disfigures a person and his or her face.
The patients are discharged after three to four days, following the surgery and removal of stitches. PCLAPA operates as a registered charitable institution, and is funded by purely private donations, and contributions from 'zakat' and 'sadaqaat' mainly from its own members.
Patients, in advance of the surgery, are registered with Dr. Ijaz Bashir, at Bashir Hospital, Gujrat, telephone (053)- 3521102 or (053)-3524139 (Website: www.pclapa.com). In Pakistan, one out of every 530 children born suffers from cleft lip, cleft palate, or both. "Hundreds of thousands of children suffering from this disability are now awaiting surgery.