Free harelip, cleft palate surgery set

APALIT -- The Kapampangan Development Foundation (KDF) is set to host free cleft palate and harelip surgeries at Asscom, Apalit on July 13 to 4 in cooperation with the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO).

KDF president Benigno Ricafort told Sun.Star Pampanga that the surgery mission is part of the year-round campaign to disseminate the information and announce that every six months, the KDF is hosting free surgeries with the help of volunteer doctors.

“We will do surgeries; therefore, all they have to do is register and they need not pay anything. The educational campaign is that it is best that beneficiaries be operated on after six months after birth and for best results within one year, especially for the cleft palate,” Ricafort said.

Ricafort is inviting poor families who cannot afford the costly reconstructive facial surgery and the accompanying cost of the medicines to avail themselves of the free cleft palate and harelip surgeries, which will be conducted by volunteer doctors from Operation Smile.

Doctors and participants in the mission will be working on a volunteer basis, said Ricafort, stressing that such is the case with other KDF programs.

“Expenses for such operations are really very burdensome to most indigents. The program aims to lighten that burden and give beneficiaries a better chance to live their lives without such deformities, particularly, the young ones,” Ricafort said.

The incidence of oral cleft in the Philippines is estimated at one in every 500 live births.

With an average of two million live births a year, 4,000 new cleft cases are added annually in the country.

Recent study shows that malnutrition and lack of Vitamin 6 and folic acid during the pregnancy period might be one of the causes of harelip, cleft palate and other facial deformities.

Ricafort said commercial reconstructive surgery usually costs thousands of pesos, but with the KDF program, patients would not be spending for the surgery as it would be shouldered by KDF and other partner organizations that share their resources for the program.

Just this May, KDF was able to service 96 patients under the said mission. Interested applicants may call KDF at 045-4580027 and 09175628673 for inquiries.