New Vision boosts free brain surgery efforts by sh70m

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This year’s Cure Children’s Hospital Brain surgery run event has attracted a huge turn-up than ever before.

Vision Group aka New Vision, one of entities that over the years stood by the specialised children hospital in the spirited campaign of saving lives of infants haunted by birth defects and urgently require corrective surgery procedures, on Saturday (October 19, 2024) donated sh70m.

The brain surgery run event is an annual event organised by Cure Children’s Hospital, a specialised public health utility in Mbale city in eastern Uganda.

Among the primary objectives of the out-door event is, creating public awareness of birth defect health challenge prevalence among newly born children across the country.

The most common birth defects, haunting infants in their thousands annually include; unusual swelling of infants head (hydrocephalus), abnormal opening on the spinal cord organ of infant (Spinal bifida) and unusual swellings in the interior of infants head organ (brain tumour).

The annual event, on the theme “save a life” (Cure hospital brain surgery run) is also a move to implore the public, not to neglect little ones haunted with the fore mentioned birth defects, but swing into action by rushing the little ones to specialised hospital (Cure Children’s Hospital in Mbale), where the health challenges could be fixed, free of charge, through corrective surgery procedure.

Participants during the Saturday brain surgery run campaign. (Credit: Watala)

The most physically agile, among participants, spotting white & green athletic outfits, went for a 10km marathon run, while the modest-agile ones opted to go for a 5km run.

Other participants that felt wouldn’t fit in either of the first two batches, opted to go for a 10km walk, brass band giving them company.

This year’s brain surgery run attracted the Uganda Bikers Association community.

Their participation livened the out-door occasion.

The bikers in a fleet that stretched as far as your eyes could see, gently rolled around the paved road network of the central business centre of Mbale city in a delightful procession, occasionally, each of the bikers raving their engines.    

Dr Tim Erickson, the director of Cure children’s Hospital, disclosed the public health utility performs than more 2,000 birth defect-related surgeries annually.

More than 90% of the troubled children admitted at the hospital, Dr Ericson further observed, are children of parents of humble backgrounds that wouldn’t have afforded the prohibitive hospital bill, estimated at sh7.5m, without the spirit of humility regularly illustrated by entities and individuals within and across the globe, donating financial support to facilitate the corrective surgeries of these troubled little ones.

“One of the other primary objectives of the brain surgery run is to implore entities and individuals of means to stand with cure hospital through donating funds to save lives of infants haunted by health challenge of birth defects."

Strong values

Etop Radio station manager, Joseph Akiso, who represented Vision Group CEO Don Wanyama, observed that participation of the entity (Vision Group) in brain surgery run events has always been the strong value of the group.

“Our hearts have not only, always gone out to vulnerable communities, but we’ve dutifully endeavored to extend a hand to help,” he said.

Notable among other entities that participated and committed financial support to the noble cause was Umeme (sh120m), Biyinzika poultry breeders (sh60m), Uganda bikers association (sh7m).  

Long surgery

Dr Emmanuel Wegoye, a neurosurgeon, explains that averagely a single surgery lasts for not less than eight hours.

A neurosurgeon is medical doctor with competence in examining and performing surgeries on brains of human being.  

Causes and management of these birth defects

Dr Julian Abeso, the head of the paediatric department at Mbale Regional Referral Hospital says in extreme circumstances when a child is found to be suffering from a rare sickness, a paediatrician will always refer cases to ideal discipline specialists for further management.

She added that while spinal bifida is a birth defect, numerous factors are responsible for these conditions. However, the most common cause is meningitis.

“Often, expecting mothers are so susceptible to the ailment. Without proper treatment an expecting mother could pass the ailment to the unborn children, hence interrupting with the embryo development process of the unborn child in the womb,” she said.

Other risk factors responsible for these conditions in infants include; avoiding ante-natal health care services during pregnancy, as well as mothers that opt to deliver from undesignated places. 

Dr Emmanuel Wegoye, a neurosurgeon at Cure Hospital, says hydrocephalus conditions are usually managed by surgery "to relieve pressure of accumulated fluid in the head of the infant".

Hospital profile

The hospital is part of a broader health charity entity CURE INTERNATIONAL, one of the leading health institutions that attracts neurosurgeons from around the world.

The hospital was established in 2000 by an American evangelist and neurosurgeon, Dr Benjamin Warf, with the aim of not only checking but finding a lasting solution to growing cases of physical disabilities of infants on head and backbone that at the time, had no hope of ever attracting a productive future as virtually all children, then, haunted with these conditions eventually succumbed to brain damage and blindness before dying.

The hospital has upheld the legacy of the founding neurosurgeon that embraces science skills blended alongside strong Christian faith.

Today the hospital performs more than 2,000 surgery procedures annually. 

“Among these pioneer patients are those pursuing bachelors in human medicine,” Wegoye says.