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SINGAPORE: Two in every 1,000 Singaporean babies are born with a cleft lip, and it is standard practice for them to undergo corrective surgery at birth.
It is a different story for these babies in neighbouring countries, but soon they will get the same treatment too.
Charity organisation Operation Smile has set up a resource centre in Singapore and it is training doctors in the region on cleft surgery.
Most children born with cleft lips, or cleft palate problems, are often treated as 'different' and shunned.
Dr Vincent Yeow said: "Having this kind of a facial deformity in a rural setting doesn't allow these children or adults to be normal participants in the society. Once we repair the lip and the palate, they look normal, they speak and they eat normal, they get the chance to get educated, get a job, to be an integral part in their society."
Together with other doctors, Dr Yeow has been giving free cleft lip corrective operations around the region since 1995. But last year, he had a chance to make a larger impact.
Operation Smile - a charity organisation doing the same work on an international scale - got Dr Yeow to make Singapore its resource centre for Asia.
An agreement was signed in November between Operation Smile and the KK Women's and Children's Hospital, and the Singapore Chapter was started.
Dr Yeow is now a volunteer at KK Women's and Children's Hospital's Operation Smile.
Operation Smiles Singapore is now providing expertise and facilities for operations in the region. Gary Loh, chairman of Operation Smiles Singapore, said: "What we are hoping to do is take it to the next level.....we can actually assist the region in terms of helping them (doctors) in terms of medical care, in terms of training."
Other than doctors, there will also be courses for therapists who play an equally important role, as post-operation therapy often continues until the patient is 18 years old.
Singaporeans can also benefit from the Singapore chapter of Operation Smile.
For instance, some Singaporean patients can qualify for post-operation therapy sessions at subsidised rates. This is of much help as the costs for the therapy sessions are not covered by Medisave.
The full treatment - lasting up to 18 years - can cost up to $23,000. - CNA/ir
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