To Further Expand its Sustainable Global Health Network, Operation Smile Opens Fourth Comprehensive Care Center in India

March 6, 2011

Care Center annually will provide free treatment for 5,000 cleft patients, and provide patient care beyond surgery

Operation Smile opened it newest global Comprehensive Care Center in Guwahati, India, where more than 5,000 children will be treated each year for facial deformities. To create a greater impact and reach more children suffering from clefts, Operation Smile currently operates 11 Comprehensive Care Centers around the world as part of its core program to build self-sustaining healthcare networks in our partner countries. Last year alone, more than 5,400 children were treated at these global Care Centers.

The Guwahati Comprehensive Care Center is Operation Smile’s fourth Care Center in India, where children suffer a much higher incidence of clefts. To address this overwhelming need, Operation Smile has created a public/private partnership with the Tata Trusts and the Government of Assam in India, where the Guwahati Care Center is located. The new center is projected to annually treat 5,000 patients with clefts. The goal of this partnership is to ultimately help treat over 20,000 children in the state of Assam suffering from clefts.

Operation Smile strives to build self-sufficient global health networks by forging new partnerships and collaborations and laying the foundation for local medical professional to provide quality year-round care. The international children’s medical charity provides ongoing medical education and donates crucial medical equipment in its partner countries. Last fiscal year, nearly 60 percent of Operation Smile’s surgeries were provided either at the global Care Centers or by in-country credentialed medical volunteers during local medical missions.

The Care Centers offer patient care beyond surgery including post-operative care, counseling, speech therapy, dentistry, orthodontics, nutrition as well as ongoing training and education. Last fiscal year, of the 5,400 patients who were screened for surgery at the worldwide Care Centers, over 3,800 patients received reconstructive surgery for their facial deformities.

The Chief Minister of Assam, Tarun Gogoi, and Indian businessman, Ratan Tata, have provided incredible dedication and leadership in establishing the partnership with Operation Smile. During the inauguration for the Guwahati Care Center, the Chief Minister said, “I appreciate the work of Operation Smile and especially the doctors who have come here to serve the people of Assam. It is a world-class facility and the patients will benefit from it.” Assam’s State Health Minister, Himanta Biswa Sarma, also said that patients suffering from clefts can now seek help at this new state-of-the-art facility where highly qualified doctors are at their service.

The new Guwahati Care Center, located at MMC Hospital, will help to create greater sustainability in India along with the other Care Centers in India which include Kalpataru Cleft Care Center in Kolkata, Park Cleft Care Center in Kolkata, and Pinnanmaneni Siddhartha Institute Cleft Care Center in Vijayawada. In addition to India, Operation Smile also operates Comprehensive Care Centers in Vietnam, Colombia, Morocco, Jordan and Honduras. Operation Smile’s expanded initiatives include addressing all the issues surrounding childhood facial deformities, as well as offering year-round surgical care and concentrated follow-up care.

“Operation Smile is not only committed to helping the thousands of children in Assam who are waiting for surgery, but we’re dedicated to creating sustainable medical treatment for children worldwide long after our medical missions are over,” said Dr. Bill Magee, CEO and Co-founder of Operation Smile. “Our Care Centers provide children and families access to medical treatment who otherwise wouldn’t be able to receive it. More than creating new smiles, we are giving these children hope for a healthy and more productive future.”

Leading up to the inauguration of the new Care Center, Operation Smile’s medical volunteers conducted their fourth large-scale medical mission in Guwahati in the past two years. From January 29 through February 16, two teams of medical volunteers gave free medical evaluations for 708 children and provided free reconstructive surgery for 509 children suffering from clefts.

Operation Smile’s work in India is representative of the organization’s global effort to bring high quality care to areas of the world that have a tremendous need for cleft lip and cleft palate treatment. Operation Smile’s first medical mission to India was in 2002, and is scheduled to return to Jamshedpur in March 2011.

Read more about our work in Guwahati, visit www.operationsmile.org/guwahati. View blogs and photos from Operation Smile’s February Guwahati mission at www.operationsmile.org/guwahati2011. Supporters can follow Operation Smile on Twitter @operationsmile and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/operationsmile. Photos and interviews are available upon request.