100 kids to get free harelip, Cleft Palate Surgeries

ANGELES CITY — Some 100 children are set to receive free harelip and cleft palate surgeries from the Kapampangan Development Foundation (KDF), Operation Smile and the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) at the Rafael Lazatin Memorial Hospital on May 30 to June 3.KDF president Benigno Ricafort said the beneficiaries come from poor families who cannot afford the costly reconstructive facial surgery and the accompanying cost of the medicines. He added that the mission is part of the Smiling Free Program of the KDF which is currently being funded by the PCSO.Doctors and participants in the mission will be working on a volunteer basis, according to Ricafort, stressing that such is the case with other KDF programs. Under the said program, beneficiaries would not be spending on the operation expenses and medicines.
“Expenses for such operations are really very burdensome to most indigents. The program aims to lighten that burden and give beneficiaries a better chance to live their lives without such deformities, particularly, the young ones,” Ricafort said.The incidence of oral cleft in the Philippines is estimated at one in every 500 live births. With an average of two million live births a year, 4,000 new cleft cases are added annually here in the country.Recent study shows that malnutrition and lack of Vitamin 6 and folic acid during the pregnancy period might be one of the causes of harelip, cleft palate and other facial deformities.Ricafort said commercial reconstructive surgery usually costs thousands of pesos, but with the KDF program, patients would not be spending for the surgery as it would be shouldered by KDF and other partner organizations that share their resources for the program. (Ian Ocampo Flora)

http://www.sunstar.com.ph/pampanga/local-news/2012/05/28/100-kids-get-free-harelip-cleft-palate-surgeries-223843

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