More than 40 doctors from the Japanese Cleft Palate Foundation led by Prof. Nagato Natsume have worked on a programme to offer free surgery to 60 children born with harelip and cleft palate in the Mekong Delta province of Ben Tre.

On December 22, the first day of the five-day programme, the doctors gave operations to 11 child patients, including one with hematoma on the tongue.

The annual programme, which has been conducted in Ben Tre over the past 20 years, also covers northern Quang Ninh and Ninh Binh provinces, and Ho Chi Minh City . It is expected to reach the northern port city of Hai Phong soon.

Since April 1993, the Japanese Cleft Palate Foundation has conducted free surgery for over 1,300 children with harelip and cleft palate in Ben Tre, while providing the locality with 75,000 USD to build a new surgery centre at the Nguyen Dinh Chieu Hospital.-VNA