Free surgery provided for nearly 200 children with cleft lip and cleft palate

Nearly 200 Vietnamese children who suffer from cleft lip and cleft palate are being provided free surgery in a program worth USD50,000 sponsored by the ExxonMobil Corporation in Vietnam.

Doctors give initial check-ups to patients before surgery. (Photo: baoquangngai.vn)

Accordingly, the program is being carried out between August 17th-21st in Quang Ngai province to serve patients in the central region while another phase which will last from November 9th-20th will be set for patients in the northern region.

The surgery is all being conducted by Operation Smile.

Apart from capital assistance, ExxonMobil staff are joining the program by assisting doctors and nurses in treating patients.

Operation Smile is an international non-profitable organization working in the healthcare sector and focusing on giving free surgery to children with cleft lip and cleft palate maxillofacial deformities in developing countries.

Since its establishment in Vietnam in 1989, the organization has helped to change the lives of over 38,000 children and teenagers seriously infected with maxillofacial deformities.

Statistics show that each year in Vietnam, some 3,000 children are born with maxillofacial deformities./.

( Compiled by VNF )