Illustrative image. (Photo: VNA) HCM City (VNA) – About 80 volunteer paediatric surgeons and professionals from the US-based Project Vietnam Foundation (PVNF) began a Medical Mission on February 27 to offer free treatment to needy children in Vietnam.
The mission, which runs until March 11, provides free operations to children with congenital facial deformities such as harelip and cleft palate, and eye defects, as well as dental care to people in Nghe An, Ho Chi Minh City and Can Tho.
Physicians, therapists and psychologists with expertise in caring for children with special needs will also share their knowledge and experience to support Vietnamese families who have children with autism.
According to Dr. Quynh Kieu, the paediatrician who established the PVNF in 1996, the foundation is a non-profit programme of the American Academy of Paediatrics that ensures health care assistance to children with birth defects and eye problems, as well as those in poor rural communities. It also provides medical training to local health personnel in Vietnam.
A number of events are scheduled to take place in Ho Chi Minh City, including free surgeries for 100 children with harelips and cleft palates at Military Hospital 175 from February 28 to March 5, training sessions in autism for paediatricians at Children’s Hospital 2 and Ton Duc Thang Hospital from February 29 to March 5, and a seminar on autism at Nguyen Tri Phuong Hospital on March 5.
A training programme on paediatrics will run until March 11 in Nghe An and Can Tho while free medical check-ups, dental care and medicine will come to impoverished people in Vinh Thanh and Co Do communes in Can Tho between March 7 and 11.-VNA
