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Rumbidzayi Zinyuke-Senior Health Reporter

More than 80 children suffering from hernia will this week undergo a free repair surgery at Sally Mugabe Central Hospital during a five-day exercise aimed at reducing the backlog of hernia operations.

The hospital’s paediatric surgery department partnered with Celebration Health to offer the operations that started on Monday. Hundreds of patients have been visiting Harare Hospital to get screened for the surgery.

Hernia is a hole that mostly occurs in the abdominal wall and allows the intestines to protrude through and sometimes causes swelling of the navel. It can also happen in the groin area in boys.

Sally Mugabe hospital chief executive officer Dr Christopher Pasi said the hospital had a waiting list for hernia operations dating back to one and a half years ago.

“Hernia is a common condition which occurs mostly in children. 

“This programme will avail an opportunity for all children to get access to the surgery,” he said.

Sally Mugabe Hospital paediatric surgeon Dr Kudzayi Munanzvi said one in 10 children born in Zimbabwe develop a hernia, which can sometimes become complicated resulting in death.

She said three children had succumbed to hernia complications this year alone at the hospital.

“We already have a lot of children who have hernias and more babies are being born and more will have them. 

“We also had the Covid-19 pandemic which has disrupted our normal service provision, so we continue to have a backlog because of the disruptions that have been happening,” she said.

She said hernia was the most common operation done at Sally Mugabe Hospital, most of which were in the groin affecting boys.

“We have to operate on a hernia because when the bowel goes where it is not supposed to be, it can get trapped and become complicated which threatens the life of the child. 

“Some of these children come from far away and by the time they get here, it might be too late for us to save them. 

“It converts what should be a simple operation into a complicated one so it is essential for us to do the operation before it gets to that stage,” she said.

Harare Hospital is the only children’s hospital which offers hernia surgery in the country a situation which has contributed to the large numbers of patients who are not treated on time.

Dr Munanzvi said the concept of public private partnerships would play a major role to make sure that all children get the surgery they require.

Celebration Health director Dr Freeblessing Murahwa said the programme was a continuation of operations that had been done in partnership with the hospital in the last decade to ensure the vulnerable people have access to health care.

“Celebration Health is the health arm of Celebration Church and we offer services, specifically for people who struggle to get the health services they need.

“ Our plan is to do this more consistently for the next few years so that we take care of the backlog that has accumulated,” he said.

Parents who had brought their children for screening said the programme would assist them to get the operation for their children, which is very expensive.

Ms Jestina Shadaya said she had come from Kadoma for her three-year-old son to undergo the operation.

“My son started getting hernia in January, but the rate at which it was happening has quickened. 

“He would cry the whole night and I have been admitted several times to Parirenyatwa Hospital, but the money needed for the operation was too much and I could not afford it. I am happy that he can finally get help,” she said.