Plastic surgery is a fulfilling profession—Dr. Charles Furaha

One of the exceptional Professions in Rwanda is working as a Plastic Surgeon. The field of Plastic Surgery is often times subject to a lot of hearsay whereby most people think it’s all about Cosmetic Surgery. However, Plastic Surgery is very vital with lots of positive attributes and deals with many other deformities besides Cosmetic Surgery. Whenever someone mentions Plastic Surgery, the first thought that rings in mind is people who want to change their skin colour, enlarge or reduce some of their body parts and the likes. Over the past years, Rwanda has been relying on expatriate Plastic Surgeons to conduct surgery on Rwandan patients who need it.However in July, 2011, Rwanda finally got its first and only Plastic Surgeon, Lt.Col.Dr.Charles Furaha. He is the only Plastic Surgeon in Rwanda and is based at Rwanda Military Hospital, former Kanombe Military Hospital. Lt.Col.Dr.Charles Furaha went to Viwits University, South Africa where he trained for eleven years for this profession. He says that being the only Plastic Surgeon in the country is a quite challenging. “There is some kind of Pressure since I am the only one in the country but it’s also an opportunity now that we can carry out this type of surgery without waiting for foreign doctors to come and help,” Dr. Furaha said. He expressed his desire for more Rwandan Doctors to venture into this type of medical skill so that Rwanda doesn’t have to rely on foreign help for Plastic Surgery. Lt.Col.Dr.Furaha also noted that there is a common fallacy that Plastic Surgery is all about Cosmetic Surgery however it goes far beyond. “Plastic surgery entails a lot. We treat people with both Congenital and acquired deformities. Congenital deformities are those people are born with which include cleft lips and facial deformities among others,” he explains. Acquired deformities include defects caused by car accidents and fractures that might call for plastic surgery. He explained that there is also reconstructive surgery which involves making an abnormal body part look normal such as reshaping cleft lips to normal looking lips. According to Doctor Furaha, few Rwandans know about Plastic Surgery which is why he is probably the only Surgeon with this specialty in the country. Dr. Furaha also stated that there are few training posts for this profession thus making it hard to venture into. He urged Rwandans to join this profession because it’s a fascinating job. “Being a Plastic Surgeon is a very satisfying job because it shows results. It is fulfilling to see a body part that was abnormal and deformed look normal again,” he said. If one has interest in joining this extra ordinary profession, then go for it just like our one and only Plastic Surgeon, Lt.Col.Dr. Furaha did. m.kaitesi@yahoo.com