The Smile Train

As part of Impact India’s Community Health Initiative (CHI) in the tribal Blocks of Thane District, Maharashtra, Clefts surgeries have commenced with patients from Talasari and Palghar having undergone Lip and Palate surgeries in Mumbai at Shushrusha Hospital, Dadar and Godrej Memorial Hospital, Vikhroli.

Speaking to SAKAL (a Marathi language daily) Dr. Nitin Mokal, a Craniofacial and Reconstructive Plastic Surgeon, and The Smile Train Coordinator for Maharashtra, stated, “This initiative has been undertaken by The Smile Train to put a smile on the faces of children. The parents and families of cleft lip and cleft palate children are very worried, but due to the advanced techniques in plastic surgery, the expert hands of doctors can transform faces. In many cases the lack of knowledge and resources cause children of poor families to live with such ugly faces. In India the percentage of such children is 1 in 1000.

The operations being sponsored for the very poor are generally conducted in 3 steps and the approximate cost is Rs.12,000/-. Impact India Foundation is helping us locate children in need of surgery. The Smile Train Project funds surgeries upto Rs.10,000/- per patient. This includes medicine and food. Mukund Thatte, K.S. Guleria, Sameer Kumtha, Raveen Thatte, Bharati Khandekar and Arun Shethe are the doctors who will be working on this project.

For more on The Smile Train, New York, please visit the Smile Train website.