Fifty-eight Japanese doctors, dentists and nurses have spent nine days in rural Vietnam giving children free surgery to correct cleft lips and palates – the 34th year running that volunteer teams have made the trip.
The Nagoya-based Japan Cleft Palate Foundation has sent volunteer medical teams to Vietnam every year since 1993. Over that time, the foundation says it has performed more than 3,000 free surgeries for children whose families could not otherwise afford the care – transforming their lives and fortunes.
Every year the journey is the same: through Ho Chi Minh City’s traffic, across the Mekong River, and out to a rural hospital in Vinh Long Province, roughly a three-hour drive.
This year, 58 doctors, dentists, nurses and staff made the trip, operating at the 1,400-bed Nguyen Dinh Chieu General Hospital over nine days.
Cleft lips and palates are among the most common birth differences in the world. But in rural areas, whether or not a child gets surgery can shape the rest of their life. Some can be ostracized, while self-confidence can be hit, too.
So for the foundation’s executive director, Professor Nagato Natsume, 69, the annual return has become personal as he and his colleagues try to transform as many lives during their short stay as possible.
“This is my second hometown,” Natsume told The Japan Times. “Every time I come here, I feel like I’ve come home.”
