A team of volunteer health professionals from Operation Smile on Thursday began a three-day marathon of operations in the Transkei on patients —mostly children — with facial defects, the Eastern Cape health department said.

Department spokesperson Sizwe Kupelo said the team, which included surgeons, anaesthetists and nurses, was working at the Madzikane kaZulu hospital at Mount Frere.

They had selected 25 patients suffering from cleft lips or cleft palates, from across the region.

"This means a lot to us. A number of people have been waiting for this kind of assistance. It's a major boost for our health services," said Kupelo.

Operation Smile is a worldwide children's medical charity, founded in the United States in 1982. Since then its volunteers have treated more than 115 000 children and young adults.

Oral clefting occurs when the tissues of the lip or palate of a foetus do not grow together early in pregnancy, and is a relatively common birth defect.

Sapa