This 36 year old man from Kagando Hospital developed a large tumour which was removed at CoRSU – and Interface assisted with his hospital bills for this operation. He had done very well but was concerned by the appearance of the depression on his face. He raised some money for his transport and hospital stay and Interface covered the cost of this operation to remove tissue from his abdomen to fill the defect in his cheek.

Amount 200 000/-  =  UK pounds  £50.00

Margaret

This  20 year old woman fell and bit her own lip which healed with poor scarring. She and her one month old baby (which she conceived after being raped) were being cared for by her poor mother. She could not afford surgery so Interface paid for her operation to reconstruct her lip. 
Amount  - 100 000 Ugandan shillings   =   UK pounds   £25.00

This 31 year old lady had a long standing swelling of her face, and could not afford treatment.
Interface paid for this benign tumour to be removed, allowing her to return home the following day.  Amount – 100 000 Ugandan shillings =  UK pounds £25.00

He is a 14yr old orphan called Kenneth who comes from the north of Uganda. He was burnt and then developed awful keloid scarring.
 
We treated him with Paul Townsend  - performed a free tram flap. Not sure whether that has ever been described for a keloid, but it has really transformed him. He is incredibly grateful – also for the new start he has in a different school. Interface Uganda paid for his bills while in Katalemwa.

19 yr old girl with an expanding tumour of the mandible.  Operation in July 2009 – the tumour was excised and replaced with a fibula free flap.  This patient came from the East of Uganda and was unable to raise any money for her operation. She had a benign tumour and therefore a potentially curable condition. Without this operation this tumour would have continued to expand and reach huge proportions and eventually cause inability to eat or breathe, not to mention the cosmetic deformity.  As she was unable to pay for her operaton, the Interface grant enabled her to undergo surgery.  She has since returned to her home in the East.

Scovia is a 25 year old lady who had loss part of her nose when she suffered from a skin infection – probably cutaneous Tb. She required several procedures to give her a nose reconstruction. As the only part of her face which was not scarred was her forehead we were reluctant to perform a forehead flap which is certainly the favoured technique for nose reconstruction in UK. The problem we have found here is that the scar is much more unsightly in dark skin and much more difficult to hide with a fringe of hair.
We therefore elected to use a flap from the arm which is an ancient flap described by Tagliacozzi in the 16th century! First we had to attach the flap to the nose while leaving it still attached to the arm. Then 3 weeks later we were able to divide the flap. Though not perfect, Scovia is very pleased with the result.  Interface paid for this procedure and Scovia signed a consent form allowing her story to be told. 

Cleft lip and palate are common disability seen in Uganda.  Interface funds and supports patients who need reconstructive surgery to correct this disfigurement.  Even if treatment is available many patients cannot afford the cost of transport and hospital fees. 

Both these child patients were treated at Kagando Hospital. Both patients sustained severe burns to head, arms and chest and both were cleaned up and then skin grafted. Both healed very well.  See attached file for more photos of Kule.

As these were treated in a mission hospital which we visit, the operation was paid for as part of our outreach program, but they still had to pay ward costs for the several months they stayed. Therefore Interface offered to cover these costs to enable the patients to return home.

The story of the Kule is particularly shocking.  Kule's brother was very sick in Kagando Mission hospital and treated by the surgical department. The mother could not pay the bills and when she took her son home she asked her husband if he would stop drinking so that they could save money for the medical bill. In a rage he locked his 4 children in the house and set fire to it before running off. Only Kule survived and we covered his burns with skin grafts. We later saw him with burn contractures and brought him to CoRSU for surgery.

Kule is doing very well though he will need more surgery to release the contractures. Unfortunately when we do burns operations in misssion hospitals, the patients often lack the after care with dressings and physio and so the results are frequently sub‐optimal.