COLOMBIA: Surgery marathon in Colombia marks 25 years of Operation Smile

Operation Smile doctors mark 25th anniversary by performing 96 surgeries on children with cleft palates in Colombia. Twenty-five years ago Dr. William Magee and his wife Kathleen traveled to the Philippines to repair cleft palates of underprivileged children. The overwhelming need they found led them to found a not-for-profit organization that has since spread around the world, including a center in Bogota, Colombia. On Wednesday (November 14), the Magees were in Bogota, celebrating their silver anniversary with a marathon round of surgeries. The doctors first arrived in Colombia in 1988 and a group of local volunteers opened a care center in 1994. Speaking with Reuters, Magee listed the impressive statistics the organisation has racked up since starting out in 1992. "Today we are in 25 countries. Today we have operated on over 100,000 children. We have over 5,000 medical volunteers who do this totally for free, get paid nothing to give up a couple of weeks of their year to help children that maybe never even know their name. But those children will never forget the kindness of these people," he said. On Wednesday, doctors prepared patients for the surgeries at a local military hospital. Volunteer Dr. Mauricio Herrerra said the doctors packed 95 successful surgeries into a three-day period. "This mission took place at the military hospital, with the hospital's support, which let us use the place free of charge. We performed 95 surgeries in 3 days, operating in 6 rooms simultaneously. It was an excellent stint. We had no complications and fortunately all the patients came out okay," he said. Maria Ester Garzon, the grandmother of one of the recipients of the group's charity, said she hoped she would live long enough to see her granddaughter healed from the process. "All surgeries are tough, but if God gives me life and health I will see my granddaughter with her lips, her pallet fixed," she said. Operation Smile has helped around 12,000 children in nearly 20 years in Colombia and plans to expand their units to other main cities in the country. Surgeries in Colombia coincided with 43 other missions, working toward a goal of helping around 5,000 children living with facial deformities to celebrate the 25th anniversary.

ITN Source | November 19, 2007

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