The Fundación Operación Sonrisa RD announced this Thursday its XXVIII Medical Mission in the Dominican Republic for reconstructive surgeries of cleft lip and palate to 25 Dominican children of scarce resources. The surgery will be totally free of charge.
This mission will take place at the Hospital Dr. Salvador B. Gautier (HSBG) from May 18 to 22 of this year, due to the agreement signed between the two institutions and the collaboration of the general director of the health center, Dr. Fredis Reyes, and Dr. Severo Mercedes, chief of Plastic Surgery Services and of the National Residency of Plastic Surgery (RENACIP).
The event will be attended by national and international medical volunteers from Operation Smile DR, as well as plastic surgery residents and staff from the Dr. Salvador B. Gautier Hospital, according to a press release. Gautier Hospital, according to a press release.
The executive director of the Operation Smile DR Foundation, Paúl Martínez Efres, explained that these volunteer medical professionals donate their time and talent to transform the lives of these children and adolescents in more than 60 countries.
While Dr. Severo Mercedes said that “this day of lip and palate surgeries helps us to give us the opportunity to fulfill our social responsibility as professionals in the health sector, and we as doctors and the team of specialist assistants and residents, we are always willing to collaborate with that commitment to society and users”.
He also emphasized that this action “helps us to maintain the process of continuing education in relation to the knowledge of the new surgical techniques to repair cleft lip and palate, with respect to other techniques used in other countries. In this way, this residence feels committed to achieve its expectations and we can collaborate so that more Dominican families have the consequences of these anomalies solved”.
On his side, Martinez Efres thanked the collaboration of the directors of the Dr. Salvador B. Gautier Hospital, so that this Mission could be carried out in the Dominican Republic. Gautier Hospital, to make this Medical Mission a reality. He also thanked the support of the sponsoring companies, MAPFRE Salud ARS, Colgate-Palmolive, Amadita Laboratorio clínico, Pepsico, OMG, Silimed Centro América y El Caribe, Medtronic, Cargill, Mec Fitness, Franco and Air Liquide Dominicana for their support in helping us to change lives, one smile at a time.
In the Dominican Republic an average of 300 children are born with this condition and Operation Smile DR, to date, has successfully operated on 1,486 patients in 27 uninterrupted Medical Missions since it was established in the country in 2009.
