A second chance at life

Five year old Ramu was always
laughed at, but he himself
could never even smile. That
was till 'The Smile Train', a global
charity committed to giving smiles
to those who have never known one,
came to his help. Ramu had cleft lip,
and thanks to the charitable organisation,
he has got another lease of
life.
Cleft is one of the most unfortunate of
all birth defects, for it is one of those few
deformities that can be corrected with
proper medical intervention and surgical
treatment at the right time, but yet isn't in
most cases. Due to lack of awareness and
poverty 50% of clefts remain untreated,
although it is not as expensive as most people
might think, about Rs 8000.

“Indian parents pay
more attention to
the correction of
deformities of girl"
child

The Smile Train has over 160 centres
across the nation and provides financial
support to poor cleft children. Satish Kalra,
the Regional Director-South Asia of the
Smile Train says, "Smile Train does much
more than offer free surgeries. We actively
promote the training and development of
medical professionals, sponsor all the other
rehab services cleft kids need after surgery.
And also carry out a lot of awareness generation
activities through partner hospitals,
state governments, voluntary organizations
and others".
A cleft is a sub-division in the body's
natural structure, formed before birth.
Though exact cause of it is still unknown, a
cleft lip or palate leads to speech defect,
breathing problems, distorted face and psycho-
social stigma. For Dr. Harsh Jain, a maxillofacial
surgeon, in countries like India,
cleft is more of a socio-economic problem
than medical.
Superstitions often mislead people to
believe that cleft is a form of punishment
from god for our sins and is hence a bad
omen. Children with clefts become the
objects of ridicule and are treated as 'virtual'
outcasts. In the past, children with cleft,
often girls, were either killed or abandoned
after their birth. But things have improved a
lot now. Dr. Subodh Kumar Singh, director
and chief of plastic surgery at G.S. Memorial
Plastic Surgery Hospital & Trauma Centre in
Banaras affirms, "The average age at surgery
for girls in my hospital is one year less
compared to that for male patients. Indian
parents pay more attention to the correction
of deformities of girl child". Dr Singh
operated on Pinki, the girl who featured in
the Oscar winning documentary 'Smile
Pinki'.
Till a decade ago, corrective plastic surgery
was expensive, but things got much
better after the arrival of Smile Train in
2000. Dr. Vimala Rajan, a consultant plastic
surgeon at Max and Apollo Hospitals confirms,
"Earlier I used to perform surgery
even for poor in the Moolchand Hospital.
But now, most of my patients are elites
from the country or from abroad. The Smile
Train is really doing a great job".
Though most common of all birth
defects, the government does not even
recognises clefts as a disability. Everyone
associated with the cause hopes that 'Smile
Pinki' would help create awareness, especially
amongst poor and help children with
clefts or those cured in integrating with the
society, thus giving them a second chance
at life. Dr. Kumar wishes that it creates
“awareness about the plight and problem
of cleft patients and also about the fact that
it can be treated by plastic surgery and
other associated treatment.”