Civil Hospital tie up with US NGO to provide cost free cleft surgery
Express News Services, Pulkit Vasudha
Ahmedabad, May 31:Sanaben (25), a resident of Bhem village near Ajmer, could not get married due to the cleft lip she was born with. But a 45-minute corrective surgery at the Ahmedabad Civil Hospital changed her life forever. In a state with a high percentage of child brides, being unmarried is a social stigma. Now, Sanaben has found a willing husband.
Four days after Heena was born, she refused to breast feed. Scared and confused, her mother, Reshma Bibi took her to a doctor. “The doctor found that Heena had a birth defect where the upper palate of her mouth was split into two. He advised me to avoid breast feeding the child, so that she does not choke,” says Bibi. Twenty-eight-month-old Heena will undergo a surgery to correct cleft palate later this week. Her parents would not have thought of going to a plastic surgeon had it not been the Civil Hospital.
For patients like Sanaben and Heena, Ahmedabad Civil Hospital’s tie up with Smile Train, a US NGO this April, offers a ray of hope. Under the collaboration, not only is the surgery free, even home-to-hospital transportation charges are borne by the plastic surgery department. Heena will soon undergo corrective surgery of the Civil Hospital. “In most hospitals, this surgery would cost at least Rs 25,000. But at the Civil Hospital, it is completely free of cost,” says Bibi.
One in 800 children are born with a cleft lip or a cleft palate. In such cases, the child develops speech difficulties and cannot smile due to the deformed mouth. Dr M F Shaikh, chief plastic surgeon at the Civil Hospital says, “A congenital birth defect can be a psychologically traumatic experience for not only the child but also the parents.” In collaboration with Smile Train, the plastic surgery department of the hospital has launched a programme in April, under which, patients will be provided free hospitalisation, surgery, medication, food and transport from home-to-hospital. “Many of our patients come from other cities and states. The earning members of the family often lose daily wages when they bring their child to the hospital. We will try to provide transportation costs to at least those patients who are poor and needy,” says Dr Shaikh.
Doctors say that babies born with cleft lips and palates should be operated upon when they are 10 weeks old. A child with a cleft lip or cleft palate requires at least three to four surgeries in the first 14 years of life. The defect is hereditary, with almost 20 per cent children having the chance of being born with a cleft lip or palate if someone in the family has suffered from it. Surgeries are most successful when the patient is still a child, claims doctors. However, almost 15 per cent of such patients are adults. This programme is a collaborative effort of the departments of plastic surgery, orthodontics and speech therapy. “We are also building self-help groups for patients and their parents so that they can share their anxiety with others with similar problems,” says Dr Suneet Soni, a resident doctor.
Smile Train has sanctioned grants to the plastic surgery department to educate people of the availability of simple and free surgeries. Diagnostic and educative camps have already been organised in Hanumant Hospital in Mahua taluka in Bhavnagar district . The second camp will be held on June 10 at Gandhinagar. The department says that till the first grant for the patients is received from Smile Train, they will provide free treatment, medication and hospitalisation to the most needy patients, while some patients will be asked to bear partial cost of medication.
Source: Indian Express