Free surgeries offered to children needing genital reconstruction
Eighty-four Vietnamese children with severe urological birth defects and rare urological conditions in HCM City, Da Nang and Hanoi are receiving free genital surgeries this month under the Thien Nhan & Friends - Child Genital Reconstruction Surgery Vietnam programme.
Italian and Vietnamese doctors speak before performing free genital surgeries on children with severe urological birth defects and rare urological conditions at a hospital in HCM City. (Photo courtesy of AIP Foundation)
HCM City (VNS/VNA) - Eighty-four Vietnamese childrenwith severe urological birth defects and rare urological conditions in HCMCity, Da Nang and Hanoi are receiving free genital surgeries this month underthe Thien Nhan & Friends - Child Genital Reconstruction Surgery Vietnamprogramme.
The surgeries are being performed from November 3-22by Italian surgeon Dr Roberto De Castro and his volunteer medical team fromItaly and the US at the Vietnam National Children’s Hospital and Viet Duc Hospitalin Hanoi; Da Nang Hospital for Women and Children in Da Nang, and Children Hospital 2 in HCM City.
The doctors are also evaluating another 300 cases inHCM City, Da Nang and Hanoi.
Urological birth defects and rare urologicalconditions include hypospadias, penile and vaginal agenesis, cloacal exstrophy,bladder exstrophy, partial androgen insensitivity syndrome and Iatrogenicpenile amputations.
Since 2011, the programme has been organised by theAsia Injury Prevention Foundation to fund surgeries for poor Vietnamesechildren along with travel costs and medical supplies.
As part of the programme, local surgeons take part insurgeries with foreign experts to learn new techniques.
Along with the surgeries, four medical technicalconferences on pediatric urological and genital reconstruction treatment havebeen carried out in the Thien Nhan & Friends programme.
Thien Nhan & Friends also provides modern surgical devicesand equipment from hospitals in Europe and the US.
The programme was originally established to help the‘Miracle Baby’ Thien Nhan, an infant boy whose genitals and leg were cut off and severely mauled byanimals after being abandoned in a jungle at birth. Over the past eight years,410 Vietnamese children have received surgery and 1,200 others have beenexamined and assessed.
Dr De Castro is a world-famous surgeon in pediatric surgerywho first operated on Thien Nhan in 2004./.
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Italian and Vietnamese doctors speak before performing free genital surgeries on children with severe urological birth defects and rare urological conditions at a hospital in HCM City. (Photo courtesy of AIP Foundation) 
