Open Access20 years of cleft lip and palate missions
Author(s) -
J. Thomas Lambrecht,
Thomas Kreusch,
Jeff L Marsh,
Christian Schopper
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
annals of maxillofacial surgery
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.365
H-Index - 6
ISSN - 2231-0746
DOI - 10.4103/2231-0746.147098
Subject(s) - medicine , fell , dentistry , paleontology , biology
Volunteer missions for cleft lip and palate (CLP) care in Indonesia (1991-1992), India (1994-2003), Bhutan (2005-2010), and Kenya (2011), took place always at the same Hospital in each country. Altogether over a thousand patients were operated using a conservative protocol: Safety first - no experiments. Five months and 5 kg were the basic rules. For the native doctors, training help for self-help was priority. In the announcements, patients with CLP were primarily addressed. Burns, contractions, tumors, and trauma-cases were the second priority. Fresh trauma was done in night shifts with the local surgeons in order not to interfere. Besides facial esthetics speech was the number one issue, following priorities fell into place. Cultural aspects played a certain role in the different countries and continents.