A chance for free, life changing surgery will once again be available to Zimbabweans with facial impairments, when the charity, Operation of Hope, returns to the country in October.

The US based group will be back in Harare for the sixth time, starting surgery evaluations on October 4th at St Anne’s Hospital in Harare. The group was founded by US surgeon Joseph Clawson, who has led the team since 1989, offering free facial reconstruction surgery across the world. The group has performed more than 2,500 surgeries on mainly children in need, and at least 450 children in Zimbabwe have been helped to date.

Typical deformities that Operation of Hope offers corrective surgery for are cleft-lip and cleft-palates, surgeries which are estimated to cost about US$1,500. Those who require the surgery are being asked to bring all their medical records to St Anne’s Hospital’s pediatric ward on October 4th for an evaluation. The group said in a statement released last week that if a candidate is selected for surgery, they will be placed on a schedule that starts from October 5th. There will be no age-restrictions placed on the surgery evaluations, meaning anyone of any age could qualify.

Most importantly, the group emphasised that “all costs associated with this surgery are free and no doctor, hospital, medication or surgical fees will be charged.

One of Operation of Hope’s success stories in Zimbabwe is Beloved Chipfete from Epworth, who suffered severe injuries when an explosive device disfigured his face. Although local doctors had managed to save his life, corrective surgery was not an option because of the limitations in the country’s collapsed health sector. But last year Operation of Hope changed Beloved’s life, when they sponsored his trip to the US where he underwent a number of corrective surgeries on his face.

By SW radio