|
The complicated
cases encountered during the camp were :
-
A 4 month old
baby referred from Ibb with a complete bilateral cleft palate;the
child had a rare congenital defect known as Kartagener syndrome
where the heart was on the right side, liver on the left side and a
severe form of chest infection (bronchiectasis).
-
Post cleft
repair maxillary hypoplasia and lip nose deformity. The 20 year old
patient needed cranio max facial intervention, orthognathic
surgery: BSSO/Le Fort 1 and rhinoplasty/lip readjustment.
-
A patient with a
gross deformity following previous surgical team repair for
bilateral cleft lip and palate with a complete palate repair
breakdown, post surgical nasal atresia, and chest infection.
-
Patient
with a complete cleft palate and chest infection.
-
One patient with
a post surgical parrot beak deformity and drug sensitivity to
halothane.
Problems
encountered in the operation theatre:
A total of five
patients were operated for cleft lip, scars and lip deformity. The
bilateral cleft lip patient had a reaction to the anesthetic drugs
but had an uneventful recovery after immediate medical intervention
by the doctors. The six month old baby also developed breathing
difficulty after recovery from anesthesia and surgery but did well
after intensive post operative care by the Yemeni anesthetist,
Dr.Wahid.
All the other
patients did well post operatively.
Lessons learnt:
There are no
Intensive Care facilities in the small Aden Christ church clinic
and the local medical team is not equipped to handle difficult
emergency cases. We are thankful that although the numbers operated
this time are not at all impressive for those interested in
glowing statistical reports ( statistics do not bleed, only our
patients do!), the timely intervention of the dedicated team of
doctors and nurses saved the lives of the patients who
developed serious complications.
It was also
observed during this camp that all qualified nursing staff in the
OT needed to have a written record of the exact sponge count before
and after the oral surgeries in order to avoid any catastrophic
upper airway obstruction in the post operative period. This is a
standard universal precaution taken in almost all operation
theatres worldwide.
Yemen Smile
thanks all those who worked long hours to make this camp yet
another success.
|
