Children's faces see better lives
(China Daily)
Updated: 2004-03-30 08:45

More Chinese children with cleft lips or cleft palates are receiving no-cost surgical treatments from Operation Smile, a US-based, not-for-profit volunteer medical organization.

Ten children, most of whom are orphans, received surgeries to have their cleft lips repaired last Saturday at the Shanghai Ninth People's Hospital affiliated with the Shanghai Second Medical University.

The programme, sponsored by the US-based Annenberg Foundation, is to promote plastic surgery exchanges with international experts and help children with facial deformities live new lives.

Wallis Annenberg, vice-president of the foundation, told China Daily that Operation Smile uses a volunteer medical team of experts from top tier universities, such as Yale, Duke and the University of Southern California, as well as volunteers from Chinese hospitals.

Speaking at the International Plastic Surgery Conference held last weekend in Shanghai, she said the team will go to five cities this year to provide free surgical care for local children with cleft lip problems.

With one place still being considered, the other four sites include Linyi in East China's Shandong Province, Lanzhou in Northwest China's Gansu Province, Zhongshan in South China's Guangdong Province and Dujiangyan in Southwest China's Sichuan Province.

"We usually choose poor regions where people do not have enough money to afford the expense of an operation," Megan Rooney, the foundation's development director in China, told China Daily.

Generally, it costs US$240 for one surgery. If fees for training programmes are added, it costs US$750 per surgery.

Individuals and many large international companies, such as Amway, KPMG and HSBC have helped raise funds, Rooney said.

As one of Operation Smile's partners and famous for its plastic surgery technology, the Shanghai Ninth People's Hospital has invested heavily in the programme and concept.

It provides equipment and volunteer physicians for the surgeries.

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