2022-5-11

In 2021, the Philippines was rocked by the COVID-19 pandemic. There were rolling lockdowns in cities nationwide. But Dr. Dax, who is a fellow with Taiwan’s Noordhoff Craniofacial Foundation (NCF), could not forget the cleft lip and palate sufferers in the small southern city of Ozamiz. Here, cleft patients had gone two years without any surgery or treatment. Due to the pandemic, international medical teams had been unable to deliver services to the area. Nearly 100 patients were anxiously waiting for procedures. With assistance from the NCF, Dr. Dax carried out his first mission in Ozamiz in late November 2021. His goal was to help as many people as possible. For a week, the kindhearted surgeon started at half past six in the morning and worked until nine o’clock at night, finally completing operations on 45 patients. 

Talking about the smiles that appear on the reconstructed faces of cleft infants, Dr. Dax says, “Even until now, parents are sending and posting before-and-after pictures of their babies and seeing those happy smiles really makes me happy.” Dr. Dax is very grateful to Taiwanese donors and the NCF for making the impossible possible. In 2022, he hopes to put smiles on the faces of even more cleft lip and palate patients. 

Article courtesy of Noordhoff Craniofacial Foundation