Treatment of cleft lips: USM to help train specialists in Sawahlunto, Indonesia

SAWAHLUNTO, INDONESIA, 17 July: Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) through the School of Dental Sciences, USM, has once again taken the initiative to share its expertise in the area of treatment and surgery for cleft lips.

This initiative is being undertaken through the Community Project for Surgery of Cleft Lips in the Sawahlunto district of West Sumatra, Idonesia.

The delegation comprises 40 staff members, including dental specialists from the School of Dental Sciences, USM. They will be assisting the surgeons at the Sawahlunto General Hospital by providing technical advice and training to enable them to carry out surgical procedures on 29 children suffering from cleft lips.

The five-day mission commenced on 15 July 2010.

The delegation, led by the USM Vice-Chancellor himself, Prof. Tan Sri Dato’ Dzulkifli Abdul Razak then presented contributions in the form of medications and medical equipment worth more than RM 10 000 to the Sawahlunto General Hospital.

Assoc. Prof. Abdul Rashid Ismail, the Dean of the School of Dental Sciences, USM said that this is the 6th mission, and it has been carried out with the collaboration of the Office of the Sawahlunto Local Government, the Secretariat of the Dunia Melayu Dunia Islam and the Malacca Youth Council.

“Prior to this we have carried out five other missions at the Ibnu Sina Hospital and Eria Bunda Pekanbaru Hospital in 2004 and 2006 respectively, the Tanjungpinang General Hospital in 2007 followed by a Treatment Review Programme in the same district in 2008 and Dabo Singkap General Hospital, Indonesia in 2009. We have only one aim, that is, to help those who are economically disadvantaged and less fortunate and who do not have access to medical treatment for cleft lips,” he said.

He added that on USM’s part, they will conduct training sessions in the form of seminars and forums for more than 200 medical practitioners from the Sawahlunto General Hospital to enable them to provide treatment of a higher quality to their patients.

Dato’ Dr. Mohamed Hassan Ariff, an anaesthesiologist from the National Heart Institution and Dato’ Ab Rani Samsudin, an oral and maxilliofacial surgeon who is also the Dean of the Dental College at the University of Sharjah, Dubai were part of the delegation.

The district of Sawahlunto is approximately 95 kilometers from Kota Padang, West Sumatra, Indonesia and was known as the main coal mining district in Indonesia. It has a population of more than 55 000 and is now being developed as a tourism and heritage site.

Published: 28 Jul 2010

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Universiti Sains Malaysia 11800 Minden Penang

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