Parents with clubfooted children have been asked to visit the hospital early for treatment to prevent disabilities.
Addressing mothers who had come for clinic today, senior matron at Kiambu district Tabitha Mbithi has advised them not to lock up the children but take them for treatment because it is a curable condition if diagnosed early.
She encouraged them to bring their newborn babies to the institution for physical examination to detect whether they had clubfoot symptoms for corrective measures are taken in time.
“My mission is to create awareness so that our newborn babies do not suffer from diseases that are preventable,” said Mbithi as she showed the parents a chart of a new baby suffering with clubfoot, but had recovered due to the therapy received from the hospital.
The matron said that children born with clubfoot will be disabled if they are not treated early.
“People with clubfoot often appear to walk on their ankles or on the sides of their feet. Who wants their child to walk like that?” asked Mbithi.
Mbithi explained that clubfoot was a congenital deformity involving one foot or both. The affected foot, she said, appears to have been rotated internally at the ankle.
The disease scientifically referred to as Congenital Talipes Equinovanes (CTEV). She said with treatment, the vast majority of patients recovered completely during early childhood and were able to walk and participate in athletics and other involving activities like any other normal child.
Mbithi urged parents not to shy away or hide their children because they were suffering from clubfoot because it was a common birth defect manifesting itself in about one in every 1000 live births.
She added that males are twice likely to be affected in comparison to their female with limbs disorder called dysmelia which affects both feet.