Abstract
We offered medical and technological assistance to cleft lip and palate patients at the Odonto-Maxillo-Facial Center of Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam. We visited the hospital three times in two years from December, 1996 to December, 1998. We operated on 93 patients with cleft lip and/or palate, 2 patients with craniofacial microsomia, 2 patients with cheek defect caused by noma and 1 patient with von Reckinghasen's disease. In Vietnam, there are many medical problems relating to cleft lip and palate patients, such as shortage of funds, medical disparity by regions and hospitals, insufficient numbers of oral surgeons and hospital beds for cleft lip and palate patients, and difficulty of obtaining new medical information from foreign countries. Most of these problems seemed doe to financial difficulties. For the present, medical assistance is necessary for the treatment of cleft lip and palate patients in Vietnam for the present.
