Governor visits Thanjavur, stresses on cleft lip and palate correction

Earlier, speaking to doctors inaugurating the Smile Train block in Meenakshi Hospital in Thanjavur, he appealed to them to go on a hunt for poor children who have cleft lip and palate and who cannot afford to undergo the surgery. He urged the NGOs, all elected representatives starting from village to town to join hands in extending a helping hand to identify those with cleft lip and palate and facilitate them to get corrected. The Governor said, it was worrying to note that The Indian Journal of Plastic Surgery states that in India out of 24.5 million births a year there are about 27,000 to 33,000 children born with cleft lips every year. “I am told that one in every 1000 new born children in India is with cleft lip and palate,” he said. He lauded Dr. Gurushankar of the Meenakshi Hospitals for performing nearly 11,000 free cleft–lip–palate correctional services including post-operative support. He said, this achievement is one of the highest numbers of procedures in South India.