Children, afflicted with congenital lip and palate cleft disorders, from across 11 states across the nation were operated
The Muthoot Pappachan Foundation (MPF), through their flagship CSR programme, ‘Smile Please’ in association with Mission Smile, has conducted over 1500 cleft surgeries for children across 11 states across the nation. The purpose was to conduct ‘Comprehensive Cleft Care Surgery Missions’ across India, providing free surgical interventions and care for the children afflicted with congenital lip and palate cleft disorders. The Mission has tranformed the lives of more than 1500 children and as on date reached cities like — Kolkata, Bhubaneswar, Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, Puducherry, Nagercoil, Kottayam, Gulbarga, Goa, Baroda and Jaipur .
MPF envisioned the cleft nutrition component addressing the needs of malnourished cleft patients which have been identified during the Mission. MPF also address the issue of financial affordability of basic food products and has taken the lead in distributing kits with cereals, pulses, ghee, dry fruits, jaggery, salt etc. on monthly basis.
Thomas Muthoot, Director, Muthoot Pappachan Group, said, “Over 45,000 babies are born with cleft and palate deformities in India every year, yet it’s a cause that’s not mainstream. Kids in rural areas are the worst affected due to lack of infrastructure and awareness causing serious health hazards. Majority of times, these parents are not able to get proper treatment due to inadequate funds. This is where we feel, we have a huge role to play, in not only making healthcare more accessible but eliminating the social taboo around it. We believe as a responsible corporate, our focus is on being able to bring about change at a grass roots level and the initiative behind cleft surgeries is directed towards that.”
- Advertisement -
Comments are closed.