One Vietnamese and four doctors from the US are carying out the programme from March 5 to 19 at Hong Ngoc General Hospital.
Doctors will provide check-ups to and design treatment plans for children with head, hand, arm and chest deformities in addition to cleft lips and cleft palates. Eligible patients will receive surgeries free-of-charge.
Dr. Nguyen Nguyet Nha, a former deputy head of the craniofacial department of the Vietnam National Hospital of Paediatrics, is in charge of the programme.
Dr. Nha has worked with many foreign physicians in similar orthopedic surgery programmes in Vietnam such as Operation Smile, the Netherlands’ Interplast, and the Republic of Korea’s Globe Care.
There are around 1.3 million children with deformities in Vietnam, according to the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs’ Department of Child Care and Protection.
Non-governmental organisations, along with national and foreign experts have carried out a number of free surgery programmes for children with cleft lip and cleft palate, which are the two most common facial deformities among children in the country.
