Putting a smile on little faces

When 6-year-old Divya’s parents were told about free cleft lip correction facility at a hospital nearby by Ramya, a Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan specialist, they had their doubts. They feared that the procedure would leave Divya with deformities. When several rounds of meetings failed to convince them, the teacher roped in the parents of another young girl, who had successfully undergone the procedure, to talk to them. While they finally relented, they said the teacher and hospital would be responsible if anything went wrong. 

Today Divya is among the several success stories written by Sri Ramachandra Cleft Care Centre of Sri Ramachandra Medical College and Research Institute. The centre began conducting free surgeries for cleft clip correction, more than a decade ago. A cleft lip is a defect in the lip where the two parts from which the lip develops have failed to fuse. 

A cleft palate is a similar defect in the roof of the mouth where the two parts from which the palate develops have failed to fuse. If left uncorrected the cleft lip and palate can affect feeding and nutrition in young babies. Dr Jyotsna Murthy, Professor and Head of Unit, Department of Plastic Surgery, Sri Ramachandra University, says that the idea behind the procedure is to ensure that the children get back to school with a new burst of confidence. She says, “Most of these children are from Tamil Nadu, Andhra and West Bengal. These surgeries are done free of cost. 

We have a number of SSA volunteers who go about spotting school children who are in need of these surgeries. Some of them don’t know where to go.”  Close to 100 surgeries are performed at the centre during holiday seasons. Dr Jyotsna adds that the huge stumbling block is the lack of awareness. 

“This is where SSA helps us, but there is a need for more periodical awareness to be created. While films like Oscar-winning Smile Pinki about a girl in Mirzapur, UP, with cleft lip created awareness, it has been restricted to urban areas. In rural areas, we have to create awareness at regular intervals,” Dr Jyotsna says.