Cape Town - Halfway through Smile Week, surgical teams at Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital have already completed about 20 operations, which will bring relief to young children who suffered “devastating injuries” in fires.
Head of plastic and reconstructive surgery Dr Saleigh Adams said surgical teams will be operating on 40 to 50 patients this week, some acute fresh burns cases and older reconstruction cases.
“This year’s Smile Week is different from other Smile weeks because we are working exclusively on treating burnt patients," Dr Adams said.
“It is to create burn awareness, at this time of the year there is a burn surge and there are lots of people who really could avoid this type of injury who unfortunately get affected. We are also doing reconstruction cases of those patients who have been affected in the past and we are using that as a teaching and training opportunity for doctors from other parts of the world.”
He added that the surgical unit was fortunate to be a recipient of a state-of-the-art laser from the Avela Foundation, which specialises in providing support for burns victims. Laser treatments usually consist of six treatments, which occur every six weeks. The treatments improve the condition of the burnt skin by at least 5%, he said.
Dr Saliegh Adams says Red Cross deals with around 600 burns victims a year. Video: Bronwyn Davids
Burns Unit head Dr Gary Dos Passos said they usually operated on about 600 acute burns victims a year and the cold season is the busiest. This week he and his team would be focusing on contracture releases and skin grafts.
When someone is burnt, they would have to go through several operations. With the funding from the Smile Foundation, Clicks Helping Hands Trust and Avela, vital operations, which are quite costly, have been able to be done, Dr Dos Passos said.
Emma (surname withheld to protect her child's identity) from Mpumalanga said her six-year-old daughter Khosi had been at Red Cross since November undergoing several operations.
“I was not with her when she was burnt, but when I saw her in the hospital, I did not recognise her.
“Khosi was operated on yesterday (Wednesday). She said she was sore and tired and she just wanted to watch Disney movies. She is looking much better.”