Free cleft lip surgery for kids until Feb. 23

The Rotary Club of Metro Cebu (RCMC) is holding another Operation Restore Hope medical mission that is expected to benefit 100 children born with cleft palate and cleft lips from Feb. 18 to 23 at the H. W. Miller Memorial Hospital on Tres de Abril Street, Cebu City.

The surgery will be conducted by a group of reconstructive surgery specialists, dentists and nurses from Operation Restore Hope, an Australia-based humanitarian organization which focuses on reconstructive surgeries to assimilate children born with deformities to mainstream society.

Frank Crijns, RCMC president, said the 24th Operation Restore Hope Mission hosted and initiated by the RCMC, is a joint project with the H.W. Miller Memorial Hospital. It is also supported by the Vicsal Foundation and fund-raising activities through golf tournaments in Los Angeles, California by RCMC past president Don Calvo.

Operation Restore Hope, one of the longest running medical missions in Cebu hosted by RCMC, has operated on more than 3,500 children with facial deformities for 21 years.

Dr. Wyben Briones, RCMC past president and current club secretary, said the screening of patients started at 8 a.m. yesterday at Miller Memorial Hospital.

Parents of children with facial deformities are advised to contact RCMC secretariat head Mimi Acasio at (0928) 5077390.

RCMC relies on the help of benevolent members of society in mounting these medical missions over the last 21 years.