Operation Smile volunteers began reconstructive surgery on indigent children with cleft lip and palate deformities at the Adventist Medical Center – Bacolod this week.
They conducted 60 surgeries from Monday to Wednesday and hope to hit 73 by Thursday, November 10, Emiliano Romano, Operation Smile Philippines executive director, said.
Among the beneficiaries of this year’s Operation Smile mission were 4-year-old twins who were abandoned by their parents, Edith Villanueva, Hope Foundation chairperson, said.
One twin underwent cleft lip surgery, while the other for the palate.
The twins from Salvador Benedicto were abandoned by their 19-year-old father and 15-year-old mother when they were a year old, and are now in the care of relatives.
The 10-month-old son of a former Operation Smile beneficiary also underwent a successful cleft lip operation.
Lemuel John Ornillo, 31, a meter reader for Central Negros Electric Cooperative, said like his son he underwent cleft lip reconstructive surgeries when was small, which changed his life.
There were more than 200 children from Negros Occidental who were screened for surgery but they had to prune the number down because of the mission’s limited time and COVID-19 protocols that have considerably slowed down work, Villanueva said.
Villanueva said testing of volunteers, patients and their watchers for COVID-19 was expensive.
Operation Smile spent about P30,000 for each patient, for a total of P2.1 million, to cover for the use of the operating room, medicines, laboratory works, X-rays if needed and oxygen, she said.
But the services of the Operation Smile volunteer doctors and medical staff were all for free, she stressed.
The more than 50 volunteers from the Philippines and abroad are composed of cleft surgeons, anesthesiologists, pediatricians, dentists, nurses, speech language pathologists and other medical staff.
Dr. Hector Santos is the field medical director of the Operation Smile Mission.
Villanueva said she is thankful to Operation Smile Philippines and the Negros Occidental provincial government who are their biggest donors.
She also thanked the Adventist Medical Center – Bacolod, the Pediatric Society of Negros, Bacolod Yuhum Foundation that gave P100,000, Jolibee, Coca-Cola, Magikland and numerous individuals who donated to make the mission a success.
Romano said they are very happy with their Bacolod mission, despite the COVID-19 protocol challenges to ensure the safety of all.
There is a large number of children in Negros waitlisted for operations because Operation Smile was unable to conduct medical missions in Negros for two years during the COVID-19 pandemic, Villanueva said.
Romano said Operation Smile Philippines in partnership with Hope Foundation is looking at having a permanent center for the conduct of regular reconstructive surgery for children with cleft lip and palate deformities in Negros.
He hopes the hub will be supported by the local community because the number of children needing reconstructive surgery in Negros is high.
Ideally the center should be set up at a hospital, where they can get a dedicated operating room at least once a week and an office where screening, dental procedures, speech therapy can be conducted by volunteers for complete comprehensive cleft care, Romano said.
He said they have a good base of volunteers in Bacolod already, they will just have to recruit more to become part of Operation Smile.
If a center in Bacolod happens, it will be Operation Smile’s fifth in the Philippines, Romano said.*