Operation Rainbow – Cleft Palate Operation
Australia’s Operation Rainbow Mission Coordinator Craig Connor are calling on parents and guardians of children aged 6 months-12 years old with cleft palate to register before the Dumaguete City Health Office so they will be screened and declared eligible to undergo surgery to correct palate deformities.
Mayor Remollo has assured Kate Salapak, Connor and wife Elina Opsima-Connor that the city and Governor Roel Degamo will be pleased to provide the logistics and use of the Negros Oriental Provincial Hospital operating rooms for the 6-day mission. The Australian doctors and staff, who have conducted 30 similar missions in different parts of the globe can serve up to 100 patients only.
Register at the Dumaguete City Health or at the NOPH.
Operation Rainbow visits the Philippines since 1990
Operation Rainbow works only in the poor provinces of our host countries and must provide all equipment, medicines and support materials for its missions. The provincial hospitals provide rudimentary operating theatres and a ward for the children to recuperate. The Operation Rainbow team performs surgery at no cost to the patients’ family. It costs Operation Rainbow approximately $500AUS per patient each surgery.
Operation Rainbow’s volunteer medical teams serve children in need of this life-altering surgery. While over 90% of the patients are children, the team also operates on adults in need of reconstructive surgery
The vast majority of children born with a cleft defect are destined to live an extremely socially disadvantaged life. Commonly children present to the hospital covering their faces with their hands, a cloth or wearing a sugar bag over their heads. They are often unable to speak, smile or eat without discomfort. They cannot go to school and are not accepted by their peers. Their physical and psychological scarring, chronic medical complications and consequently their lack of education opportunities determines their fate. Similarly, the families of all these children are often outcasts from their communities.
