Mission Smile, a charity organisation and the CSR wing of Muthoot Pappachan Group and Tirumala Hospitals, will jointly ensure free surgeries for children suffering from cleft lip and cleft palate problems by holding special camps in Vizianagaram between December 20 and 23.
Seventy-five children from Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam, East Godavari and West Godavari districts have already been identified for surgery and 50 more patients are expected to be screened in Vizianagaram on December 19.
Addressing a press meet here, Mission Smile programme manager Rafiur Rahman said that cleft problems were being identified mostly in the eastern and southern regions of India due to malnutrition and marriages within the family. He said that the organisation which was established in 2002 had been extending help to children with cleft problems.
“Nearly 10 lakh children were suffering from cleft problems in India and of them, over 6 lakh children are from the eastern and southern parts of the country,” he said.
Tirumala Hospital Medical Superintendent Ch. Mahesh and Plastic Reconstruction Consultant Muddada Sravani said that the surgeries need to be conducted at an early age for children in order to ensure that the deformity is fully corrected.
Resident Medical Officer B. Sudhakar and Muthoot Pappachan Group area manager S. Srinivas were present at the programme.
