First step toward a new smile for Osman

Story by Gino Antsatiana Randrianasolo

Potential patients in Toliara were eagerly awaiting the arrival of the Mercy Ships Patient Selection Team. Among them was Delphine, a 20-year-old mother clutching her six-month-old son, Osman, who was born with a cleft lip. Delphine knew that her child needed surgery, but the cost at a local hospital was too high for her.

“There are surgeons here, but it costs a lot of money so I cannot afford it,” she said. However, when she heard about Mercy Ships on the radio, she seized the opportunity and enrolled, hoping to give her son the care he needed.

“I don't want people to mock him for his cleft lip when he grows up,” she added.

Before going to Toliara on a flight with MAF pilot Wouter Nagel, the Mercy Ships Patient Selection Team was conducting field consultations in Taolagnaro, in the southeast of Madagascar. A cyclone had just swept through the region, making travel difficult.

Despite those challenges, the team was determined to meet potential patients. 

“If people always carry this hope with them that someday help will come, even in this remoteness, then I also feel like I always need to show up for my patients. And I do that always,” said Alheri Ibrahim Gora, Patient Selection Clinical Supervisor.

The team needed to reach Toliara, on the opposite side of the island. The road between the two cities stretches over 600 kilometres and usually takes several days to drive. But after the tropical storm, it became nearly impossible.

Thanks to the partnership with MAF, the team was flown safely and swiftly to Toliara one day before the field consultation and could start seeing patients the next day, in partnership with the Ministry of Health.

“It is almost not possible to do a road travel from Tolagnaro to Toliara, especially in the past few days. Tolagnaro was hit by a tropical storm and most of the roads were also affected,” said Macfaiden Chipeta, Patient Selection Logistics Supervisor.

“But with MAF, we were able to fly for about one hour and 20 minutes, or one hour and 30 minutes, which saves us a lot of time. So, we could not do it without MAF.”

That is when six-month-old Osman came with his mother. Inside the field consultation room in Toliara, the Mercy Ships team carefully examined Osman.

After a thorough assessment, the team confirmed the news Delphine had been hoping for - Osman could be scheduled for consultation with the surgeon on the ship. He has been scheduled to travel to Toamasina, where the Africa Mercy hospital ship is docked.

“Thanks to Mercy Ships, we can get this patient to Toamasina soon,” said Alheri. “Hopefully, we will see the ‘before and after’ photos.”

Stepping out of the room, Delphine smiled with relief.

“I always had faith. I thank them for the help. May God bless them,” she said.

Thanks to the partnership between MAF and Mercy Ships, patients like Osman can access life-changing surgery that would have otherwise been out of reach.