Mining companies set Php2.25-M for ‘Operation Smile’ in Palawan

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(PNA), LDV/CARF/JMU/PJN

PUERTO PRINCESA CITY, June 5 (PNA) -- Over 150 Palaweño children with cleft lip and cleft palate are expected to benefit from the free surgery mission that will be headed by Operation Smile, an international children’s medical charity “that provides free life-changing surgeries.”

Operation Smile’s stint in Palawan will be supported by the Provincial Health Office (PHO), and mining companies Coral Bay Nickel Corporation (CBNC) and Rio Tubo Nickel Mining Corporation (RTNMC) that set aside Php2.25 million for the free surgery charity mission.

The first leg of Operation Smile will be on August 8-13, 2016 at the Northern Palawan Provincial Hospital (NPPH) in Taytay, and October 24-29, 2016 in the southern provincial town of Brooke’s Point at the Southern Palawan Provincial Hospital (SPPH).

Dr. Mary Ann Navaro of the PHO said it is the target of all partners to bring down the number of cleft lip and cleft palate in the province, and to ensure that the beneficiaries will have life-changing events that can lead to better self-confidence and brighter future.

Navarro said that based on statistics given by Operation Smile Country Director Roberto Manzano, each year, about 5,000 Filipino children are born with cleft lip and cleft palate.

In Palawan, she said 10 percent of children are born with the condition.

However, she failed to give an exact figure on where it came from.

Interested parents, she said, may go to their Municipal Health Officers to avail of the free surgery.