Children with maxillofacial deformities in Quang Ngai receive free operation ( Photo: SGGP)
Today, Operation Smile in collaboration with the People's Committee of Quang Ngai Province, the Provincial Committee of the Vietnam Fatherland Front, the Hospital of Obstetrics and Gynecology of Quang Ngai Province, and the medical team from the Central Odonto-Stomatology Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City conducted free surgeries on these children.
All surgeries will be performed free of charge to the patient. In addition, the patient will be partially supported with travel and accommodation costs during the hospital stay.
Associate Professor Le Van Son, Head of the maxillofacial surgery team, said that an operation includes lip-nose plastic surgery and palate surgery. This time, the surgery is just the first step, children will receive long-term treatment later to gradually improve.
In Quang Ngai Province, the program has operated on about 1,000 children over years. The surgery team will try to perform an operation on those who have not undergone the operation in the upcoming time.
A medical worker is giving advice on a parent of a child with lip and cleft palate defects (Photo: SGGP)
Bui Duc Tho, Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee in Quang Ngai province said that some 120 children in the province need examination and surgery, an average of one child in each commune is born with a cleft palate every year. Leaders in Quang Ngai province have always facilitated this medical activity to help children with lip and cleft palate defects.
According to statistics, in developing countries like Vietnam, one in 700 children is born with a birth defect of the lips and cleft palate. With this deformity, the children face many difficulties in life such as respiratory failure, malnutrition, and difficulty in eating and pronunciation.
Mr. Nguyen Viet Phuong, Chief Representative of Operation Smile said that after 33 years of operation in Vietnam, Operation Smile provides free reconstructive surgery for children born with facial deformities such as cleft lip and cleft palate. This August, it is expected that about 80 children and young people will be treated in Quang Ngai thanks to the sponsorship of Viet Dreams.
