Jhansi: A nine-day charitable surgical camp for children with cleft lips and palates concluded here on Sunday, providing free treatment to 78 underprivileged children.The camp was organised jointly by Veerangana Foundation and Operation Smile, and hosted by Maharani Laxmi Bai Medical College (MLBMC), Jhansi. All services, including travel, local transportation, accommodation, food, surgery and medicines, were provided free of cost. Operation Smile is a US-based charitable organisation that provides cleft care to underprivileged children worldwide. The camp attracted patients from about 17 districts across UP, MP and Rajasthan. Doctors and volunteers from nine countries, including the UK, the US, Canada, the Netherlands, Australia, Peru, Mexico and the Philippines, participated in the programme.Apart from surgeries, the team also provided speech therapy and orthodontic support. Jhansi-Lalitpur MP Anurag Sharma, who played a key role in organising the camp, said cleft lips and palates were serious deformities that often remained beyond the reach of underprivileged families because of the high cost of treatment. “I am thankful to Operation Smile for bringing smiles back to the faces of children in Bundelkhand,” he said.Operation Smile associate VP (Asia) Abhishek Sengupta said We are committed to the children of Bundelkhand. ,“Under a three-year plan, we aim to perform corrective surgeries on 500 children across Bundelkhand.”
