CHENNAI: Jayanthi and her husband were dismayed to find that their twin children had bilateral cleft lip and palate.
Agricultural labourers by profession, they were unable to provide for reconstructive surgeries for their children.
However, the couple was delighted to know that cleft surgeries can be performed on their children free of cost at a few city hospitals in the city with aid from Smile Train.
The boys had cleft surgery followed by palate surgery. They also underwent free speech correction therapy at Sri Ramachandra Hospital. Now, they are in Ist Standard in school and doing well academically.
Many parents like Jayanthi get disappointed when their child is born with cleft lip and fail to get reconstructive surgeries done due to its high cost. Smile Train of the US has come to assistance of such children to provide financial and clinical help by joining hands with local hospitals in the city.
Sri Ramachandra Medical College (SRMC) and Research Institute marked the completion of 12,000 free cleft lip and palate surgeries in the last 17 years in association with Smile Train of the US on Saturday.
An awareness campaign on need of cleft lip and palate surgeries was also launched to mark the day and was attended by over 500 children who had undergone this treatment.
Dr Jyotsna Murthy, professor of plastic surgery, SRMC, emphasized on the need for surgical treatment for those born with cleft lip and palate surgeries. “Surgical treatment and therapies are needed to build up speech to boost the self-confidence of the child, who are mostly discriminated. One in 700 children are born with clefts and not many parents are aware that such deformity can be treated free of cost. The message should be spread across to increase the number of beneficiaries,” she said.
