A cleft lip and palate surgery programme opens in the Central Highlands province of Dak Lak on October 27 , helping to bring smile to children with lip, palate deformities (Photo: VNA)

Dak Lak – A cleft lip and palate surgery programme was kicked off in the Central Highlands province of Dak Lak on October 27 by Operation Smile Vietnam and the provincial Fund for Children.

The programme, now in its seventh year, is expected to provide screening for 300 children from five months old and give free surgeries and treatment for 100 children with each case costs up to eight million VND (326 USD).

In addition, the patients will be supported with travel and accommodation expenses during surgery and treatment. The estimated cost of the programme is about 800 million VND (33,000 USD).

Speaking at the programme's opening, Deputy Director of the provincial Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Pham Phuong said that since 2006, Operation Smile Vietnam has sponsored surgery costs for children with maxillofacial deformities in the province. In particular, from 2014 to now, the organisation has coordinated with the provincial Fund for Children to provide checkups and operations for nearly 1,000 children with lip and palate deformities, at a total cost of over six billion VND.

The Fund for Children of Dak Lak has implemented the cleft lip and palate surgery programme since 2002. Over the last two decades, it has sponsored 25 direct consultation programmes in caring for sick children from birth and after surgery. Besides, 2,238 poor, near-poor, and disadvantaged children have received financial support for orthopedic surgery and 5,252 children have received free medical examination in 15 districts, towns, cities with a total cost of more than 6.3 billion VND thanks to the fund.