Poona Hospital performs more than 400 cleft surgeries

EHM News Bureau - Mumbai

The Poona Hospital & Research Center celebrated the first anniversary of a unique programme - of being a Smile Train partner. In May 2002 the Hospital joined The Smile Train to give cleft surgery to hundreds of children free of cost.

In the past one year, more than 400 surgeries have been performed on patients belong to the lower socioeconomic group, some living in grinding poverty at the Poona Hospital. Some need to travel miles to reach here.

It is estimated that about 35,000 live births take place every year with defects of cleft lip and cleft palate. It is also one of the easily corrected deformities by surgical means, leading to immediate and miraculous results. The tragedy is that only a fraction of the cleft population is able to access good and safe surgical intervention. Said Dr N S Katoch, Dept. of Research, Poona Hospital & Research Centre, “This programme was started in partnership with a US-based international children’s charitable organisation - The Smile Train, to treat children with clefts in the age group of 3 months to 22 years.”

Started in 1999, it is one of the largest organisations in the world that treats cleft lips and palates. The founding member of the board, Charles B Wang was born in Shanghai, raised in New York, and is the driving force behind it. As one of the world’s most successful high tech entrepreneurs, he has been active in the development of the Smile Train Virtual Surgery lab.

In more than 51 countries around the world, the Smile Train along with its partner hospitals, both in the urban and rural set ups, supports the cleft treatment, training local doctors, and encouraging research programmes. It has the world’s first web-based cleft database available to anyone to use for free. Always on the lookout for dedicated professionals to partner with, the aim is to offer free surgery to maximum indigent children.

In the hospital, frequent camps are held which serve an important purpose - that of group therapy. At these camps people get to see many affected children, are able to exchange notes and it is some consolation to discover that they are not the only ones affected.

Educational video films shown at these camps explain what a cleft is, its possible causes, how to overcome feeding problems and the possible hearing and speech problems such children may face. Once a patient comes here, the investigations, hospital stay, the surgery and post surgical care and medicines are provided free of cost.

In addition, the child receives expert dental consultation and speech therapy when required.