200 kids to benefit from Operation Smile

CEBU, Philippines - The last leg of Operation Smile’s biggest ever mission in the Philippines and elsewhere in the world, started yesterday at the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC) with at least 200 children with cleft lip and cleft palate undergoing surgery for free.

The medical mission, which is now on its 15th year, will be in VSMMC until November 30.

It was made possible in partnership with the Mariquita Salimbangon-Yeung Charitable Foundation, Inc.

To date, more than 25,000 all over the Philippines have benefitted from Operation Smile’s medical mission and 3,000 of them are in Cebu.

Oral cleft is among the top 12 congenital defects in the country and a leading cause of infant mortality.

An estimated one in every 500 Filipinos born every year are afflicted with either a cleft lip of a cleft palate or both.

Because of the hole in their lips and the roof of their mouth, they are susceptible to various infections.

“Studies have been made whether this is genetic.  But children with such deformities were due to lack of nutrition while the mother is still pregnant,” said Operation Smile founder Dr. Willian Magee in a press conference yesterday.

Data gathered by the Operation Smile showed that ten percent of cleft children or 400 die before reaching their first birthday and 12 percent or 480 do not live past the age of five.

“We want to reach these unfortunate children so we can treat them at an early age. Unfortunately, the Philippines has no cleft registry so it’s difficult to locate them,” said Operation Smile Philippines president and executive director Roberto Manzano.

The Magees founded Operation Smile in 1982 following a medical mission in Naga City where they saw for the first time the gravity of the cleft problem.

From then on, Operation Smile missions now spread in more than 60 countries with over 7,000 volunteers worldwide.

The Magees couple also expressed their gratitude for the Cebuanos’s warmth and hospitality.

The medical mission here in Cebu City and in General Santos City is part of a huge month-long, nine-city mission that Operation Smile is holding here in the country to mark the global celebration of the 30th years of its founding.

Called the “Journey Home”, to reflect the organization’s roots, Manzano said that the mission brought 14 tons of medical equipment and supplies to the Philippines and mobilized 1,000 volunteers consisting of 700 Filipinos and 300 foreign nationals from 36 other countries.

For Cebu, the mission allocates at least P5 million worth of medicine supplies including medical equipment.

“Our partnership with the people of Cebu and the Mariquita Salimbangon Yeung Charitable Foundation is special and continues to grow strong over the past 15 years and this is benefitting not only the Cebuanos but also the residents of the sorrounding provinces,” Manzano said.

Operation Smile Philippines is now adopting the public-private partneship approach to expand its capabilities to treat more Filipino cleft children. — (FREEMAN)