By: Wendy Neoh Siew Ping (Friends of MH)

The team that made it all happen; seated from left: Sister Che Tah (MERCY Malaysia Health Coordinator), Dr. Normala (surgeon), Prof. Dr. Ahmad Sukari (surgeon), Dr. Shamsul (anesthetist), Dr. Rhendra (anesthetist), standing from left: Hafidzi (MM Programme Officer), Wendy Neoh (MM Programme Officer), Sister Kalsom (nurse), Sister Hashimah (nurse), Sister Tan (nurse) and Dr. Hasnul (surgeon)

There are many areas where Partners like Malaysia Airlines can assist MERCY Malaysia on its missions. Sometimes, these can count as a small thing, but for a NGO like us, it means huge cost-savings, which then translates into more money for our programmes.

Our team left for DHAKA  for our The Cleft Lip & Palate Project(CLIPP) . CLIPP is a 3-year joint collaboration between MERCY Malaysia and Dhaka Community Hospital (DCH), aimed at providing free reconstructive surgery of cleft lip and palate for underprivileged children of Bangladesh. I am the Programme Officer in charge of this project.

At the same time, we also worked with Malaysia Airlines.  They have granted our MERCY Malaysia team an excess baggage of 120kg from KLIA to Dhaka. Their continued support makes this mission a successful one.

Excess baggage allowance for two-way travel is also important, as we carry heavy items both to and from missions. Malaysia Airlines understands this need, and how our requests can come at the last minute, and yet, they assist us. We are grateful to have a Partner as sensitive to the urgency of humanitarian issues like Malaysia Airlines.

It is my personal hope that MERCY Malaysia and MAS could explore more collaboration opportunities to further solidify this working relationship. Perhaps we should take this further and explore the possibility of MAS sponsoring MERCY Malaysia’s air ticket costs, as part of its CSR initiatives.

Prof. Dr. Sukari conducting a lecture on “Management of Cleft Lip & Palate Patients” to the doctors and nurses of DCH, as part of capacity building initiative

For developmental projects like CLIPP, MERCY Malaysia should send over some information on this project to MAS. Thus, when the next CLIPP is around the corner (i.e. Aug this year), it will be easier to request for excess baggage as communication has been done in advance.

It is always a good experience travelling with Malaysia Airlines. The staff are friendly and always pay a little closer attention when I tell them I am going to or returning from a mission on behalf of MERCY Malaysia.

Let’s work together to heal across borders !!

More information about the Cleft Lip & Palate (CLIPP) Project CLIPP:

There will be nine sessions conducted throughout the implementation of the project – 1 session in 2008; 3 sessions in 2009; 3 sessions in 2010 and 2 sessions in 2011.

The team comprises three surgeons, three staff nurses, two anaesthetists and one Programme Officer/Logistician in each session. Also in each session, we will treat at least 50 patients, to be done over five operating days.

During each mission, besides conducting the cleft palate and lip operations, we will also be training the medical personnel of the hospital in the hope that by the end of the third year, DCH will be fully capable of conducting the operations themselves.

Some of the supporting activities are as follows:

·   Training of their nurses in intra and post operative care of cleft surgery.

·   Training of the DCH Team in comprehensive management of cleft patients.

·   Training of three DCH medical personnel (a surgeon, an administrator and

    one support staff) in cleft management in Malaysia.

·   Capacity-building programme conducted in January 2009 for the DCH team

    to acquire skills in constructing feeding plates and prostheses for

    nasoalveolar molding.

·   Assisting DCH in setting up a cleft lip and palate centre.

·   Education of the community on social stigma of cleft lip and palate

    deformity.

During the March 2009 mission, our medical volunteers successfully operated on 53 patients, making it a total of 104 patients to date.