Some 4,500 children born with cleft lips and palates will be able to put on their best smiles over the next three weeks.
“Operation Smile” is marking its 30th foundation this year and is mounting the largest medical mission ever to be staged in the Philippines. At least 300 volunteer medical professionals from abroad will be teaming up with 700 Filipino volunteers to perform free reconstructive surgeries on 1,500 Filipino children suffering from cleft problems.
Roberto Manzano, Operation Smile president said this year’s round of medical missions will benefit at least 4,500 children over a period of three weeks.
Dubbed “The Journey Home,” the medical missions will be conducted in depressed areas in Metro Manila as well as different provinces around the country from Nov. 12 to 30.
Operation Smile began in 1982 through the efforts of American cranio-facial surgeon William Magee and his wife Kathleen, a nurse. The first medical mission was held in Naga City in the Bicol region to treat children with cleft lips and palates.
To date, Dr. Magee said Operation Smile has performed successful plastic surgeries and changed the lives of some 24,000 Filipino children with cleft deformities.
Cleft deformity is one of the 12 congenital birth defects that is prevalent in Philippines. Some 4,000 Filipino children are born each year with a cleft palate, the Philippine Star reported.
