More patients needed

"Partner hospitals throughout China have the capacity to perform 50,000 cleft surgeries every year, while only 20,000 people come for help. Therefore, we need to conduct more publicity campaigns to let more cleft lip and palate sufferers know about the Smile Train program," said Peng Yu, Vice Director of Chinese Charity Federation.

Charles B. Wang, Co-founder and Chairman of the Smile Train, once said, "We don't have the fear that we have no time to do more but that people who need help don't know what we can do for them. We want more publicity in order that the more people know about us, the more we can do for the public."

According to current statistics, China has a population of 2.4 million suffering from cleft deformities and 25,000 babies are born with this affliction every year. Of these patients, many people live in rural areas and lack of information has inhibited their access to timely treatment.

To solve this problem, the global charitable organization has established a toll free hotline at 800-810-0059 in China, which has made the medical assistance only a call away from families in need. Moreover, the Smile Train adopted a policy that ensures every cleft lip and palate sufferer, from poor families in cities or rural areas, can receive the surgery in the nearest hospital. Families in abject poverty can even apply for transportation expenses for the surgery.

Emphasis on training

Currently, hospitals in China conduct over 1,500 free cleft surgeries in partnership with the Smile Train every month. Unlike other global charitable medical programs that only enlist foreign surgeons, the Smile Train program empowers Chinese surgeons to conduct the operations. The Smile Train also has a budget for training local medical staff, in addition to doing medical research on treating and preventing cleft deformities in China. Every Chinese hospital or clinic where the cleft surgery is conducted also shoulder part of the operation expenses.

To fulfill the mission of offering cleft lip and palate related training for local doctors and medical professionals, the Smile Train has launched Smile Train Express, an unprecedented free and Web-based patient database accessible to the global cleft lip and palate community; and a virtual surgery CD-ROM collection that includes training videos. The CD-ROM content adopts virtual technology and advanced 3D animation software.

Victoria Moy is the Managing Director of the Smile Train's China office. She said over a period of nearly eight years the Smile Train has allocated $35 million to the operation in China. Brian Mullaney, Cofounder and President of the Smile Train, said the charity is grateful to donators from across the world, whose generosity makes a tremendous impact on salvaging lives of shame, isolation and pain.

Through developing strict budget management, the Smile Train has succeeded in maintaining the average expenses per surgery at $250, the lowest among all similar charities. Members of the board pay for all non-program expenses, like administration expenses, so that 100 percent of donations will go towards programs that help children. "We are moving toward becoming the most cost-effective and efficient cleft lip and palate program in the world," said Mullaney.