120 kids with cleft lip, palate undergo free surgical repair

At least 120 indigent children with cleft palates, hare lips, and other facial deformities will soon be wearing perfect smiles.

These children are the beneficiaries of this year's five-day Operation Smile Cebu Mission, which is sponsored by the Mariquita Salimbangon-Yeung Charitable Foundation in partnership with the Operation Smile and the Visayas Community Medical Center.

The free surgeries started Monday, February 12, and will end today, February 16. The operation usually costs from P70,000 to P100,000 each.

This is the 20th annual mission of MSYCF starting in 1998 in Cebu City. Over 5,000 children with cleft lips and cleft palates benefited from the medical mission.

Carla Yeung Mckowen, who represented her mother, Mariquita, in a recent press conference, said helping kids with facial deformities is always fulfilling as it can help lead them to a brighter future.

She assured the medical mission will continue so long as there are kids suffering from such facial deformities.

"We will always be here and we will always continue to help, whatever it takes. Our support is endless," she said.

An international team of plastic surgeons, pediatricians, nurses, anesthesiologists, dentists, and speech pathologists are leading the free reconstructive surgeries.