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Underprivileged children to receive free corrective surgeries for cleft palates
  • | Nhandan | July 07, 2014 11:00 AM
Around 150 children with cleft lips and cleft palates from Phu Tho, Hoa Binh, Tuyen Quang and Ninh Binh provinces will receive free medical check-ups and surgeries from July 7–11 in Hanoi.
More Vietnamese children will have brighter smiles thanks to Operation Smile and Amway Vietnam.

The campaign comes under the Operation Smiles mission held jointly by Operation Smiles Vietnam, the National Fund for Vietnamese Children, the Vietnam-Cuba Friendship Hospital, and Amway Vietnam.

The first day of the mission will be used for medical checks to find children with adequate health conditions to undergo surgery in the subsequent days.

During the mission, Amway Vietnam’s distributors and staff will participate as volunteers, taking care of children and their families and assisting doctors.

Country Director How Kam Chiong of Amway Vietnam explained: “We believe that charity is not for appraisal, but for sharing and helping. With Operation Smile, we are doing our best to help the most underprivileged children, bringing them opportunities to a complete smile. We are proud of what we’ve done. Amway Vietnam will continue co-operating with Operation Smiles in this meaningful mission and we expect much more children will return their normal lives in the future.”

The chief representative from Operation Smiles Vietnam, Nguyen Viet Phuong, said a patient needs two to three surgeries to fix the deformity and to completely recover the ear, nose and throat functions. Affording the expense for a complete treatment is big challenge for disadvantaged families. With financial support from Amway Vietnam, more children can receive operations and live more normal lives, Phuong said.

Since its official launch in Vietnam in 2008, Amway has partnered with Operation Smiles to help children born with cleft lips and cleft palates across the nation gain access to free medical check-ups and surgeries. So far, 1,100 children have recovered full oral functioning through the medical missions of the co-operative programme.

Amway Vietnam and Operation Smile plan to carry out their next mission in the Central region this November with the aim of delivering opportunities to more disadvantaged children.

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