Children from all over the Northern Cape Province will be smiling even brighter this week after receiving life-changing surgery at Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe Hospital (RMSH) in Kimberley. This is all thanks to a fruitful collaboration between the Northern Cape Department of Health (NCDOH) and the Smile Foundation. Smile Week, an initiative by the Smile Foundation, is taking place from the 15th to the 19th of April where a number of children are undergoing life-changing surgery to repair a cleft lip and pallet which will improve their ability to eat, drink and talk properly. Surgical, Nursing and Ward staff have come together to provide patients the best care possible at the RMSH, which is the only tertiary hospital in the province.
The Smile Foundation has also collaborated with NCDOH in the past few years by refurbishing the Burns Unit which has made it possible for almost a thousand patients to receive reconstructive surgery after suffering severe burns. Dr Maria Giaquinto-Cilliers, the Plastic and Reconstruction Surgeon performing the surgeries, who is also the head of the Burns Unit at RMSH, encouraged the public to play their part in making a difference by pledging a donation to the Smile Foundation so that more lives can be touched by this initiative.