NDANKI KAHIURIKA and MARIA SHAANIKANINE-YEAR-OLD Kupopikosha Shiliano is all smiles ahead of club foot surgery on his left foot that will allow him to run around again, and hopefully play soccer once it has fully healed.
found Kupopikosha at the Lady Pohamba Private Hospital yesterday, where he and 15 others were waiting to undergo surgery to fix foot deformities.
The operations will be carried out by Steps2Walk, an international organisation based in the United States, in partnership with the Lady Pohamba hospital.
Steps2Walk does outreach programmes in underprivileged communities all over the world, where they reach out to patients with foot and ankle pathology, including those who are disabled, and children with club foot.
Club foot is a medical condition that affects children during pregnancy. It causes their feet to bend inwards. Sometimes it is so acute that the feet point upwards or sideways.
According to Mayo Clinic, a health website, club foot is sometimes caused by family history where one member in the family has the condition, or due to congenital factors where the tissue surrounding the spinal cord of the fetus does not develop well.
Other causes include the environment where the use of recreational drugs can lead to a child developing club foot, as well as the lack of amniotic fluid.
The website stipulates various types of club foot, but points out that a lack of treatment can lead to the child suffering from a poor self-image, inability to walk normally, and arthritis.
Kupopikosha, whose operation will be done either today or tomorrow, will be undergoing surgery for the third time.
His case is very special because he was already operated on for his condition, but suffered a relapse.
A relapse happens when club foot returns due to a lack of proper follow-up, which is mainly blamed on long distances patients have to travel for treatment. Kupopikosha’s mother, Hambeleleni Nakanyala, said she is very happy that her son might be able to walk well again.
According to her, he was operated on his left foot first at birth, and then later on his right foot sometime last year.
His left foot continued to give him problems, to the point where he could not walk or stand unassisted.
“They will now operate on his left foot so that he can stand and walk better. I am pleased about this,” she added.
Nakanyala said she was shocked when she discovered that her child had been born with a club foot, but she took it in her stride. She noted that the nine-year-old, who is in Grade 3 at the Otjikondo Primary School in the Kunene region, would sometimes ask her why he walked differently because it also baffled him.
“I always told him that is how he was born, but with the help of the doctors in future, he will walk normally like other children,” she would regularly explain.
According to her, there have been no complaints of bullying by other children because of his condition.
“He performed well at school, and was supposed to be in Grade 4 now. But due to delays with the operations being performed, he could not pass Grade 1”.
Nakanyala encouraged other mothers whose children are born with the condition to have faith because with the doctors’ help, their children will get well.
Speaking to The Namibian in an interview yesterday, Dr Mark Myerson, founder of Steps2Walk, said club foot is prevalent in Namibia.
Myerson said although there is care, there are some challenges that affect follow-ups after treatment, which then lead to relapses in patients.
“Lots of relapses happen due to challenges which come from a lack of transport (to health centres), with children falling into the cracks. We are treating five children, of whom three have had relapses. The other two are new cases,” he said.
Myerson said around 25 patients have been analysed and assessed, while only 16 will be chosen for surgeries.
The operations are aimed at benefiting patients as much as doctors, who will be learning about how to carry out such operations.
Namibian orthopaedic surgeon Jacques Jonck, who also assists at the Namibia Club foot Programme under the health ministry, enunciated Myerson’s words for continuity of treatment through weekly follow-ups, and by doing this to avoid relapses.
Others supporting these surgeries are Namibia Radiology, Smith and Nephew (expert surgeons) and Firstrand Namibia.
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