No more worries for cleft children in the State. Now, they can avail free cleft surgery and lead a normal life with a smile like others. As the cleft care organisation ABMSS and its partner the Deutsche Cleft Kinderhilfe, Germany have been providing free cleft lip and palate surgery in its cleft centre at the SSB Hospital here.
Hospital cleft centre in-charge Dillip Patnaik said the free surgery also includes alveolar bone grafting, fistula repair and maxilla-facial surgery and others along with free transportation, food and stay facility during treatment at the hospital.
Apart from that, the cleft centre would do a post-operative follow up for all treated cleft children to ensure comprehensive care for those children, he added.
In India, nearly 35,000 children born with cleft every year; and States like Odisha, West Bengal, Jharkhand and Bihar account for around 30 to 50 per cent of cleft cases with majority from poor families. Around 80 to 90 per cent of the cleft children are left untreated due to no access to healthcare services and lack of awareness.
ABMSS head Dr Dushyant R Prasad said that without timely treatment, cleft children would face difficulty in eating, speaking and breathing. Untreated cleft in the long run can cause severe health complications that prevent a child from his/her normal growth, he added.