uniBank, in partnership with Operation Smile , an International Medical Charity Organisation, is undertaking a medical mission to perform free surgical operations for 150 patients born with cleft lips and cleft palates.
This mission is scheduled for 31 March – 11April, 2016 at Ho, in the Volta Region.
Cleft lips and Cleft palate, the 3rd commonest birth defect worldwide, is “increasingly spreading within some rural and urban areas in the country,” uniBank said in a statement.
The birth defect, which occurs in approximately 1 per 1000 births, can create speech abnormalities and breathing problems sometimes resulting in death.
Given the limited awareness, children with clefts are stigmatised and sometimes tagged as progeny from the river gods. Some are even killed by relatives.
uniBank’s is supporting 150 patients, who would otherwise live a life of shame and isolation, with free surgical procedures.
“uniBank as a caring partner is providing the platform to ensure that this medical mission, which anchors on the bank’s CSR mission of providing amongst others, healthcare for the underprivileged transforms and gives hope to beneficiaries,” the bank said in a statement.
