A French expert surgeon in cleft lip and palate surgery services, Dr. Bernard Pavy, has pledged to teach Rwandan surgeons at the Plastic Surgery Unit of Rwanda Military Hospital-Kanombe with skills and knowledge in the field.In an interview with The New Times yesterday, he recounted that he had been requested by the Minister of Health, Dr. Agnes Binagwaho, to build the capacity of local surgeons specialising in cleft lip and palate surgery."I have been a specialised surgeon in cleft lip and palate for over 45 years and I am ready to help Rwandan doctors to get this expertise as well,” he noted.Pavy, an expert plastic surgeon at Chirurgiens des Hospitaux de Paris, observed that he regularly travels worldwide to assist surgeons get the required know-how in plastic surgery."I am told this is the first time for Rwanda to have a unit that will be specialising in cleft lip and palate surgery services on a permanent basis. I am going to ensure that it becomes a referral model unit in the region,” he affirmed."This is a good initiative for the Rwandan government to save children and mature people suffering from a deformity that is perfectly operable but which frightens people and leads to social exclusion”.According to Dr. Charles Furaha, a Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeon at Kanombe Hospital, local surgeons specialising in cleft lip and palate need expertise and skills from experienced surgeons."Although we are operating patients, we still need more skills and knowledge from surgeons like Dr. Bernard Pavy,” he noted.Furaha noted that the Pavy had been assisting them in the ongoing operations for the past one week adding that 11 patients had so far been operated on. "Cleft lip and palate patients have been undergoing an operation on temporary basis before we established a unit that will be offering services on a permanent basis,” he confirmed.