The University of Hong Kong-Shenzhen Hospital (HKU-SZH) has started a new round of campaign in partnership with the Rotary Club of Hong Kong Northwest to offer free diagnosis and treatment for 30 babies and teenagers born with a cleft lip or palate, the hospital said Tuesday.
Applications are open for patients aged between 3 months and 16. Those with a unilateral cleft lip, that is, clefting of the lip on one side only, must be over 3 months old and weigh more than 5 kilograms, according to the hospital.
Those with a bilateral cleft lip must be at least 6 months old and weigh over 5 kilograms. Patients can apply for a surgery to repair a cleft palate if they are over 9 months old and weigh over 8 kilograms.
The campaign will run from June 1 to 5. Interested families can contact the hospital via mobile phone number 138-2658-3014 for more information.
According to HKU-SZH, with the strong support from many professional institutions and charity groups, it has successfully launched 11 large-scale cleft lip and palate diagnosis and treatment campaigns since 2015 and helped 446 babies get brand-new and beautiful smiles.
The patients came from different parts of the country, with most of them coming from impoverished families and some taken care of by local welfare institutions. Among the babies who received the surgery, the youngest was little over 3 months old.