• GIFT Machile (left) whose face has been disfigured following a growth on her right cheek with her mother Delphister Kaunda (with baby) and her grandfather Thomson Mecha in Luangwa Township in Kitwe. Picture By KENNEDY MUPESENI

By KENNEDY MUPESENI –
A KITWE mother, whose 17-year-old daughter is agonising with a serious life-threatening mouth tumor in  Luangwa Township, is appealing to the Government and well-wishers to help evacuate her for specialised treatment abroad since the local facilities have reportedly failed to address the problem.
Delphister Kaunda said the family had exploited the local medical facilities, but things were not yielding, hence the need for the Government and well-wishers to help seek medical attention elsewhere.
“We started with the Kitwe Central Hospital. We were told the surgical treatment was not available that is when someone suggested Hill View Hospital but that could not work, as the private medical facility referred us to the University Teaching Hospital (UTH) where we did some tests after cutting a part but later when the results came out they were told no one could interpret the results,” Ms Kaunda said.
She said some medical officers suggested the family take the results to the Ndola Teaching Hospital (NTH) where there was a specialised medical practitioner to handle complicated surgical issues.
However, Ms Kaunda said to their surprise the NTH authorities requested to initiate another test instead of relying on the UTH outcome.
She said since May, the results only came out last month and authorities there suggested that they take her back to Lusaka.
Life started becoming unbearable for the mother of one when she was six months pregnant when a pimple-like growth started developing on the right cheek, but it has now protruded and closed the mouth.
A visit to the mother’s house where she was being nursed found her helplessly seated with her four-month-old baby, relying on the drinking bottles as the mother is not able to breastfeed as her condition has kept on deteriorating day by day.
“The other problem I have is that Gift you have seen cannot breastfeed. The mother does not eat. She only takes water using a tiny hole at the closed mouth. If well-wishers can come to our rescue, we will appreciate. I was doing some businesses, but I have stopped as all the capital has gone towards medical issues,” Ms Phiri.
She said the family had been gripped with grief thinking about what was next as the condition of their fourth child had continued to worsen, especially that all the medical options had been exhausted.