SHILLONG: The 2nd Operation Smile Surgery Outreach Mission in Shillong concluded successfully on Sunday at the Shillong Civil Hospital. The Outreach Mission was inaugurated by Meban Synrem, Mission Director, NRHM Meghalaya, and Joint Director Health and Surgeon Superintendent of Shillong Civil Hospital Dr Mrinal Barthakur on May 26.
A total of 77 patients were evaluated out of which 46 patients received cleft lip and cleft palate surgeries provided by a team of Plastic Surgeons, Anesthesiologists and other specialists from Operation Smile Guwahati Centre with support from NRHM Meghalaya and Shillong Civil Hospital. The rest of the patients will be provided surgery at Guwahati or in future Missions.
The patients who were screened and provided surgery had been mobilized from Jaintia Hills, East and West Khasi Hills and Ri Bhoi districts through grass root level drives in collaboration with NRHM and Sarva Siksha Abhijan.
Appreciating the support provided by Shillong Civil Hospital, the Mission Field Medical Director Dr Gaurav Deshpande of Operation Smile said, “We were able to provide 100 percent safe and quality surgeries due to the excellent facilities at the Hospital and whole hearted cooperation of the Civil Hospital Staff, as well as the hard work put in by the Team and local Volunteers.”
Dr Mrinal Barthakur, Surgeon Superintendent of Shillong Civil Hospital, said that “Missions and concerted drives such as this are vital to address the problem of large number of untreated clefts in the state. We look forward to supporting more such Missions in the interest of the patients of Meghalaya”.
Cleft lip (cheiloschisis) and cleft palate (palatoschisis), which can also occur together as cleft lip and palate, are variations of a type of clefting congenital deformity caused by abnormal facial development during gestation.
A cleft is a fissure or opening—a gap. It is the non-fusion of the body’s natural structures that form before birth. Approximately 1 in 700 children born have a cleft lip or a cleft palate or both.
In decades past, the condition was sometimes referred to as harelip, based on the similarity to the cleft in the lip of a hare, but that term is now generally considered to be offensive.