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Patients at the Oking Hospital in Kohima during the two-day Smile Train Shija Cleft Project which was conducted on October 15 and the 16th in Kohima.[/caption]
Our correspondent
Kohima, Oct. 16 (EMN): Seven children with cleft lip and cleft palate deformities received free treatment at Oking Hospital in Kohima during a two-day Smile Train Shija Cleft Project-Mission Nagaland which was conducted with the theme “towards rendering new smile, new hope, new life,” in Kohima.
The project was a collaborative effort of The Smile Train Inc. (USA), Shija hospitals (Imphal, Manipur) and Oking Hospital (Kohima). The event was conducted on October 15 and the 16th at the Oking Hospital in Kohima.
Dr. Palin Khundongbam, a Smile Train partner surgeon, told
Eastern Mirror that the project has operated on around 700 patients till date in Nagaland, and around 4000 patients from across the Northeast states.
‘Nagaland does not have plastic surgeon for cleft lip and palate so I am covering it,’ he said, adding that six doctors and staffs from Shija Hospital came for the project.
Khundongbam also recalled a sad experience during the event: There was a one-year old cleft patient who came from the Myanmar border but he was very sick with a respiratory infection. So they had to cancel the surgery.
“It is unfortunate and Smile Train has compensated some amount as travelling expenses and requested them to come again next time,” he said.
Khundongbam said that the organisers plan to come again in February or March 2020. He appealed to church leaders, school teachers, social workers and social representatives to spread the message that cleft lip and palate can be corrected and people can live a normal life. He reminded that information is always given out two weeks before the project starts.
The medical official said treatments are given completely free and at the same time they support travelling expenses besides providing nutrition.
‘Such an opportunity is given by the Smile Train New York. We must encourage and spread message,’ he said.
Smile Train is a nongovernmental organisation in the USA with its head office in New York. It gives free surgical treatment to people who have cleft lip and cleft palate conditions. People born with cleft palate lead difficult lives due to stigma while many of them do not undergo treatments because of poverty, besides due to fear of surgery. The organisation relies on donation and contributions from people in its charity work.
