The 45th reconstructive surgery mission piloted and funded by Doctors of the World is coming to an end this Saturday, October 22. For the past week, a medical team made up of French surgeons and anesthetists, all volunteers, have been carrying out consultations and operations on small patients, victims of serious burns, mainly 3rd degree.
With our correspondent Antananarivo, Sarah Tetaud
“You saw, we made 4 triangles, which allow us to bring the healthy skin back to the center, and suddenly, to treat the ”bridle”. Like this, she recovers her cervical extension “. At the HJRA hospital in Antananarivo, on the operating table, a 13-year-old patient, seriously burned in her armpit and neck. For 3 hours, the plastic surgeon Charles Irthum has been commenting on each of his gestures, for the attention of the Malagasy medical team, still unaccustomed to the practice of flaps and skin grafts.
“Burns related to domestic accidents”
” This young girl had sequelae of burns at the cervical and pro-axillary level which prevented her from extending her joints correctly. In general, the burns that are operated on in this region of the world are linked to domestic accidents, that is to say accidents often around the meal area, since the hearth is generally open in the room. of life… »
And that’s exactly what happened to little Nokasaina, 4 years old, the youngest of all the patients welcomed by the mission. ” This happened in May 2021, it was a Tuesdaysays the mother. We were cooking, she was going crazy. And she touched the stove. On the fire, there was our huge cauldron filled with boiling soup. Everything changed on her. I hadn’t seen her come into the room, and when I saw her, it was too late. »
Geographical distance, lack of means
So when Lala, her mom, heard about the free operation campaign, she didn’t hesitate for a second. ” We said to ourselves “we have to go”. Look, his burns prevent him from turning his neck, his mouth is twisted. She’s getting ”fixed” tomorrow. I really thank the doctors for coming to help us. »
Operations that these families, extremely modest, would never have been able to offer to their child, for lack of means, geographical distance and qualified personnel on the island.
For Doctors of the World, the goal is to enable these children from the bush, who come from all over the island, to be able to recover some of the mobility lost due to the after-effects of skin lesions and to facilitate the acceptance of their body, transformed by the accident. The other objective of these reconstructive surgery missions is also to train doctors on site in this very specific type of surgery.