Medical mission gives smiles to poor kids

Asia Africa Intelligence Wire
 | April 28, 2005 | Copyright
(From Philippine Daily Inquirer)
Byline: Mei Magsino, Batangas City
NINE-YEAR-OLD Hernando Arevalo Jr. has a reason to smile now. After the operation that corrected his cleft palate, his mother Florencia wouldn't have to be called at the principal's office anymore for the troubles his brother Rommel get into defending his brother from his tormentors.
Junior was born with a cleft palate that left him with a speech defect for nine years, a disability that also became the subject of ridicule among his classmates at the Barangay Bulihan Elementary School in Malvar town.
"That's why when we heard from the social workers in Malvar that there [would be] a medical mission at the Batangas Regional Hospital, we immediately inquired how to avail of the free operation that will correct Junior's cleft palate," Florencia said.
When she took Junior to the hospital on April 1, he underwent operation that afternoon.
Florencia said she had been called to the principal's office twice when Rommel, Junior's younger brother, punched the face of a boy who mocked Junior.
She said Junior was over-aged for the second grade because he was scared to go to school. He feared that his classmate might tease him.
But when his younger brother Rommel convinced him to go to school with him, with the promise that he would defend Junior, he started schooling.
Junior was one of the 50 children from different towns in Batangas and Laguna provinces who were given free surgery to correct their cleft palates, a congenital defect caused by genetics and environment.
"Majority of the cases of cleft palates that we have operated on were caused by genetics. One or two people in the family had a history of the defect and it was passed on. Some of the cases, however, were caused by the environment, the mother had smoked or taken drugs that affected the baby," said Dr. Mel Cruz, the chief surgeon of the medical mission.
Cruz, with seven surgeons from Manila, performed the free surgeries at the BRH with the Philippine Band of Mercy (PBM), a non-government organization that helps children with disabilities, from March 30 to April 1.
In the Philippines, people with cleft palates are called ngongo.Cruz said this defect starts as early as the unborn baby is developing.
Cleft lip and cleft palate can occur on one side (unilateral cleft lip and/or palate), or on both sides (bilateral cleft lip and/or palate), she said.
Because the lip and the palate develop separately, it is possible for the child to have a cleft lip, a cleft palate, or both cleft lip and cleft palate.
"The procedure to correct that defect is already widely known, but some parents would rather let their children grow up with that disability. One cause is their lack of financial resources, as the operation would really be expensive if done in a private hospital. Also, some parents don't know what to do. Still, other parents believe that the defect is God-given and therefore should not do anything to change it," Cruz said.
But for those given the chance to have the free operation on their son or daughter, the medical mission was God-sent.
"My daughter Melody is a smart girl, and she is very beautiful. As a parent I won't let her grow up with her cleft palate that would make her the object of ridicule of some people," Edeline Abdon said.
Only two years and six months old, Melody has been active, trying to talk to the hospital staff, making them understand her words.