Agartala:National Health Mission (NHM) has brought smile to 56 children of Tripura after surgical intervention to reshaping face over a week in special camp at Tripura Medical College, said Mission Director NHM, Tripura Dr Sandeep Namdeo Mahatme.
He said under Rashtriya Bal Swastha Karyakram (RBSK) NHM has identified 93 children cases of cleft lip and cleft palate though it mobile medical team by screening of children in Anganwadi Centers and schools in remote locations in past three months.
“We had a plan much earlier that to do something special for the children of Tripura on the Children Day and finally found cleft lip and cleft palate is one of the major health challenges for middle income families,” Dr Mahatme said.
Though Mahatme is a cadre of Indian Adminis-trative Service (IAS) by profession, he is a bachelor of medical science and had wide experience in prac-ticing medicine in remote villages of Maharashtra.
“Cleft lip and cleft palate of any family is really a painful situation and correc-tion of lip and plates bring back lost smile of the family and NHM is committed to do service to the patients of such disease,” Dr Mahatme said. He said in the camp as many as 56 children were conducted free of cost including transportation, medicine and stay with the help of Operation Smile NGO and Tripura Medical Col-lege Hospital and rest 37 cases will be taken future as they were unfit due to ane-mia,poor nutrition, infection.
Most of these children belong to poor families living in remote areas. Comprehensive care would be provided to the children including speech therapy, audio logy, psychological counseling apart from plastic surgery till they cured fully, he stated.
RBSK teams have also identified 40 cases of congenital heart disease which would be their first screened in GBP Hospital and then referred to Kolkata for surgical cure under health assurance scheme for BPL.
NHM has also planned for treatment of 40 club foot cases in AGMC GBP Hospital in December with the help of Club Foot Inter-national. (UNI)