Operation Smile launches second mission in Marrakesh

The second mission of the NGO, Operation Smile, providing reconstructive surgery and related healthcare to indigent children kicked off in Marrakesh Thursday.

The mission is conducted by a 60-person staff, made of surgeons, anaesthetists, paediatricians, speech therapists and nurses.

Head of Operation Smile-Morocco, Abdu Jbara, told MAP the mission, to continue until March 16, will benefit some 700 persons nationwide, including 200 who will undergo surgeries.

A total of 40 to 50 persons will undergo surgeries daily, and their follow up will be ensured by Moroccan doctors, Jbara said.

A similar operation will be organized March 27-April 04 in the southern city of Laayoune, he announced.

"These two missions will cost some 4.5 million dirhams (nearly US$ 450,000)." Some 2,051 Moroccan patients have undergone Operation Smile surgeries since it was launched in the kingdom in 1998.