National Hospital Guido Valadares (HNGV) directors have cooperated with the Korean Association of Research and Charity Craniofacial Deformity (CARCCD) to perform free corrective surgery for children affected by cleft lips.
CARCCD president Pill Hoon Choung said this program was provided as humanitarian aid from South Korea to the people of Timor-Leste in order to strengthen relations between two nations.
He added cleft lip surgeries and consultations would be made available to children with a focus on those in the Lautem and Oe-Cusse districts.
“The doctors want to help Timorese children with cleft lips by doing this activity,” President Choung said in Bidau, Dili.
He in the program has been undertaken in 22 nations including Timor-Leste.
He said they had intended to hold the program throughout the entire territory but the district hospitals were not in good enough condition and had insufficient equipment for such an operation.
Operation coordinator Francisco da Conceicao said while there were many children in Timor-Leste with cleft lips, few came to have the operation due to a lack of information.
“The information does not reach the communities as this activity is unexpected,” he said.
He added the operation ran from 17 to 22 February and reached 22 children.
Some children were from the districts but most were from Dili.
National Hospital Guido Valadares (HNGV) general director Domingos Soares said they shared information through health facilities to communities in the districts but it was dependent on patients if they wanted the operations.
He recognized that many communities did not receive the information as it was difficult to access and there were some who could not afford the transport fees to come to Dili for the operations.
