Vital surgeries for babies with cleft lip and palate

THE parents of eight babies born with cleft lip or cleft palate - a condition where the top lip or roof of the mouth doesn't close while forming in the womb - are breathing a collective sigh of relief after specialists and the Netcare Foundation teamed up to make their children's repair surgeries possible at Netcare Akasia Hospital in Pretoria.

- ZELDA VENTER

"From birth, doctors said my daughter Oratilwe would need surgery for her cleft lip and palate.

"It was hard for us as a family and yet we knew she needed this operation," Nthabiseng Moremi, the mother of the two-year-old, whose name means "being loved", said.

Professor Kenneth Segwapa, a plastic and reconstructive surgeon, meanwhile, explained that in the case of babies with cleft lip, ideally, the repair surgery should be done at three months to achieve a good aesthetic result.

"Tragically, without awareness that there are options for cleft lip repair, parents sometimes hide their children with this condition until later on.