JOIN USSmile Train, a US-based NGO, on Friday partnered with Medanta Hospital to treat patients with cleft lip.
This is the seventh hospital in Delhi where children will be treated free of cost with the help of the NGO.
“In collaboration with Smile Train, we will offer free surgeries to needy patients with cleft lip and palate,” said Dr Trehan of Medanta Hospital.
Other hospitals in the city where the facility is already available are Ganga Ram Sant Parmanand, Jaipur Golden, Maharaja Agrasen, Mata Chanan Devi, St Stephen’s and Sunder Lal Jain.
“We have not collaborated with any government hospital in Delhi because the treatment for cleft lip is already provided free of charge there,” said Renu Gupta, programme director, India.
The NGO will reimburse a certain amount to the hospital per surgery and surgeons
will charge fee at a subsidised rate.
A child born with cleft lip has to be at least three-month-old for the first surgery. Surgeons claim it is 100 per cent curable.
Curable
Cleft lip is caused by abnormal facial development while the child is still in the womb.
In cleft lip, a gap occurs in the upper lip. It can take various forms.
In most cases, patients cannot eat or speak properly and are discriminated in society.
In India, over 30,000 children are born with cleft lip.
Nearly 50 per cent of them remain untreated for lack of awareness on corrective surgeries and poor economic conditions.