FGM victims to undergo free surgery

The Karen Hospital will for the next few days be offering free surgery to reconstruct the sexual organs of women who have undergone female genital mutilation.

In a drive dubbed ‘Restore Pink Plus’, FGM survivors will undergo clitoroplasty surgery, a clitoral reconstructive operation, with the aim of restoring the function of the clitoris and the women’s dignity.

Surgeons carrying out the procedure say the operation could stop pain, help women feel sexual pleasure and restore their identity and femininity.

“The initiative has been designed to assist FGM victims undergo clitoral reconstruction in order to restore their identity and dignity and rejuvenate the clitoris’s sensation,” Dr Abdullahi Adan, who is pioneering the initiative, said.

SIDE-EFFECTS
Dr Adan, the Grand Round Coordinator, Department of Surgery at the University of Nairobi and plastic, aesthetic and reconstructive Surgeon at The Karen and Kenyatta National hospitals, and Dr Marci Bowers, Clitoraid’s obstetrics/gynaecology surgeon from the USA, will be the lead surgeons.

The procedure being pro-bono, patients will not be charged the doctor’s fee but will only pay for consumables.

This will be the first time such a surgery is being conducted in Kenya.

Most FGM survivors suffer painful side-effects and a loss of sexual pleasure.

COUNSELLING

While it cannot fully restore the genitalia to how it would have been had the woman not been mutilated, the surgery is meant to rebuild the damaged area for women who have undergone incision and rejuvenate the nerve networks so that they can regain sensitivity and, in some cases, attain orgasm.

The initiative also has the women go through counselling, which is vital for the emotional healing due to the traumatising effects of FGM in their early childhood.

FGM, the partial or total removal of the external genitalia for non-medical reasons, is a cultural tradition widely practiced by some Kenyan communities. 

REGISTRATION ONGOING
Last week, the surgeons conducted capacity building training for other Kenyan doctors on the new surgery and issued certificates to the trainees who will join the surgical team.

The week-long surgeries are set to begin tomorrow and run until May 12.

So far, 30 patients have registered for the surgery.

However, because of the high demand for the rare surgery, the doctors say they may have to extend the operations for another week.