A group of 18 doctors from the Vietnam-Cuba Friendship Hospital of Hanoi are in Vientiane to provide free-of-charge facial surgeries to Lao patients.

On May 10 and 11, the doctors conducted surgeries on 53 patients with cleft palates and hare lips and other facial deformities.

The mission, which will conclude on May 14, was under the agreement on medical cooperation between Hanoi and Vientiane , which was signed in 1999. Since then, Hanoi sent doctors to Vientiane every year./.