Doctors arrive for Operation Smile

CEBU, Philippines -  More than 30 doctors, surgeons and nurses from the different parts of the world arrived the other day to join this year’s Operation Smile-Cebu Mission schedule for Nov. 23 to Dec. 1, 2012 at the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center.

Hundreds of children with cleft lip and cleft palate deformities and other facial deformities will soon experience a life-changing surgery, as the screening was conducted yesterday in order to determine who among the applicants are qualified to undergo such a procedure.

Operation Smile Cebu Mission hosted by the Mariquita Salimbangon-Yeung Charitable Foundation Inc. expects to operate on more than 200 children with such deformities, as it marked their 15th year of helping children with facial deformities.

OSC is a major project of MSYCFI and has helped over 3,000 children with facial deformities for free. Surgery would normally cost around P60,000 to P100,000.

Last year, 250 children with facial deformities underwent surgery for free.

Operation Smile began in the Philippines with its first mission in Naga City, Camarines Sur in 1982.  Founders Dr. William Magee and his wife, Kathy, a nurse and social worker, traveled to the Philippines with a group of medical volunteers to repair children’s cleft lips and cleft palates.

They discovered hundreds of children with deformities and although they helped many children, the volunteers were forced to turn away the majority of those who sought help. The Magees saw the need to do more and Operation Smile was born.

On its 30th Jubilee year, Operation Smile will conduct “The Journey Home” from Oct. 26 through Dec. 2, 2012. This campaign celebrates 30 years of transforming the lives of the children in the Philippines.

These nationwide simultaneous international missions will be mounted with the help of volunteers from 30 countries, across ten sites throughout the Philippines with the goal of changing lives of more than 4,500 children forever.

Operation Smile is an organization that believes that every child deserves the opportunity to lead a normal life.

It has become a pioneer in care centers specializing in comprehensive treatment for children with cleft lips or palates.  It is part of a global coalition of NGOs advocating for safe surgical care in the developing countries.

It is also actively engaged in the research and prevention of childhood facial deformities and birth defects and a leader in medical education and training for healthcare professionals across the globe.  – BRP (FREEMAN)