COVIDIEN EXTENDS PARTNERSHIP WITH OPERATION SMILE TO HELP CHILDREN IN INDIA AND AROUND THE WORLD

Covidien (NYSE:COV), a leading global provider of healthcare products, has extended its relationship with Operation Smile, a worldwide children’s medical charity, to help provide corrective surgeries for children born with cleft lip, cleft palate and other facial deformities.  In keeping with its commitment to help provide quality healthcare around the world and fund programs that offer care and treatment for specific diseases, Covidien will support Operation Smile’s medical missions with grant funding over the next two years.

This pledge of support will be used, in part, to help fund Operation Smile’s medical missions to India, including a mission recently completed in Guwahati.  This specific mission treated over 500 children with cleft lip and cleft palate.  In addition, Covidien’s support will go toward another mission scheduled in Guwahati for early February 2010 that will be the largest to date in India and bring new smiles to an estimated 1,000 patients. 

“Since 1992, Covidien has been a valued partner, and as a result of their generous support we will be able to heal more children in India and around the world,” noted Kristie Magee Porcaro VP, US Development and Global Partnerships.  “We are deeply grateful for their long-standing commitment and the important role they play in helping us transform lives.”

Over the past 18 years, Covidien has contributed a wide range of medical devices and supplies that have treated children and young adults around the world.  Covidien’s in-kind contributions of critical medical products, such as endotracheal tubes and suction catheters, have been enormously important to these missions.

"We proudly support Operation Smile’s ongoing commitment to improve the lives of children all over the world,” said Teresa Hacunda, Director of Civic Affairs for Covidien. “The focus in India is especially welcomed by the local Covidien team, where our funding will not only provide care to the underserved, but also support training and tools for doctors that will yield self-sufficiency and excellence in care.”

About Operation Smile (www.operationsmile.org)
Founded in 1982 by Dr. Bill and Kathy Magee, Operation Smile, headquartered in Norfolk, Virginia, is a worldwide children’s medical charity whose network of global volunteers are dedicated to helping improve the health and lives of children and young adults. Since its founding, Operation Smile has treated more than 140,000 children born with cleft lips, cleft palates and other facial deformities and the organization has a presence in more than 50 countries. In addition to contributing free medical treatment, Operation Smile trains local medical professionals in its partner countries and leaves behind crucial equipment to lay the groundwork for long-term self-sufficiency.

About Covidien
Covidien is a leading global healthcare products company that creates innovative medical solutions for better patient outcomes and delivers value through clinical leadership and excellence. Covidien manufactures, distributes and services a diverse range of industry-leading product lines in three segments: Medical Devices, Pharmaceuticals and Medical Supplies. With 2009 revenue in excess of $10 billion, Covidien has 42,000 employees worldwide in more than 60 countries, and its products are sold in over 140 countries. Please visit www.covidien.com to learn more about our business.