Rotary Club helps 50th harelip case

Rotary Club helps 50th harelip case

JAKARTA (JP): Rotary Club Jakarta's Menteng branch celebrated
funding its 50th operation on people with harelips in Mandarin
Oriental Jakarta yesterday, pledging to continue the social
mission.

In her speech, the club's vice president Lusiana Hasan called
on people to bring children with harelips to the club so they
could undergo surgery free of charge.

"The free service, which covers transportation, the operation
and medicine, is only for children under two years of age who
come from poor families."

The latest patients assisted by the club, which has offered
the service since 1995, were a group of seven children on
Tuesday, Lusiana said.

She hailed the organizations which have provided material and
financial support, including non-Rotarians, state-owned Cipto
Mangunkusumo General Hospital, privately run Bina Estetika
Clinic, Sinar Pelangi Foundation, PT Organon Indonesia
pharmaceutical company, and Rotarians from the Netherlands.

A staffer from the Ministry of Health, Nardo Gunawan, who
represented minister Sujudi at the afternoon ceremony, gave a
thumbs up to Menteng Rotarians for their outstanding efforts.

Nardo said the number of harelip cases in Indonesia was still
relatively high and the government alone could not be relied on
to provide the operations.

"It's not easy to assist people with harelips. First, they
live in different places and they are sometimes hidden by their
parents because it is thought that such a defect is a curse."

He said the Ministry of Health always gave its full support to
the club's activities.

Nardo said he had no precise data about people who have
harelips in Indonesia but a rough estimation indicated that one
in every 1,000 newborns had a harelip.

He said the ministry planned to conduct a thorough study and
produce accurate data on harelip cases. (emf)