FAQs

Operation Restore Hope Australia is an Australian based surgical charity founded by Plastic Surgeon, Dr. Darryl Hodgkinson, which provides aid to less privileged children in the Philippines with birth defects and deformities such as cleft lip and palate, burns and tumours of the skin.

Operation Restore Hope fields missions annually to the Philippines. The charity always works in conjunction with The Mijares Gurango Craniofacial Foundation at the Philippine Childrens Medical Center in Quezon City in Metro Manila.

While it is of course better to repair defects as early as possible (our youngest patient in the Philippines ever being 3 months old in a mission environment and 3 days old in a hospital environment) we try to accommodate everyone we can help. We do not turn people away. If a patient is not well enough to have surgery, it is our goal through early screening to help the patient be ready in time for the mission through nutritional programs or by getting medication to control problems such as asthma and tuberculosis. We only operate on persons who have been vetted by community social workers to be persons in need.

Since 1994 Operation Restore Hope Australia has operated on more than 3,000 persons with cleft lip & palate, burn or tumours or ulcers of the skin.

While it is of course better to repair defects as early as possible (our youngest patient in the Philippines ever being 3 months old in a mission environment and 3 days old in a hospital environment) we try to accommodate everyone we can help. We do not turn people away. If a patient is not well enough to have surgery, it is our goal through early screening to help the patient be ready in time for the mission through nutritional programs or by getting medication to control problems such as asthma and tuberculosis. We only operate on persons who have been vetted by community social workers to be persons in need.

The average cost of an operation is about $ 500 AUD. The cost is kept so low due to the amount of volunteer effort we have.