Shija's Cleft Project goes on
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, May 18 2013 :
With the objective of faciliting formal education of all children with deformed lips and palates, Smile Train Shija SSA Cleft Project is going on in Shija Hospital as a joint project of the hospital and Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan.
After 10 children with deformed lips and palates were operated upon and their deformities successfully correct- ed under Smile Train Shija SSA Cleft Project in March this year, another eight children would undergo similar surgical operations tomorrow.
Generally, children with clefts mingle very little with other people and their attendance in school is very low.
Such children are being identified under SSA and they are brought to Shija Hospital to correct their deformities free of cost.
Fees for conducting surgical operations and cost of me- dicines are borne by Smile Train Shija Project while transportation charges, food and hospital accommodation are paid by SSA.
Notably, Smile Train Shija Project was launched in the hospital in 2006.Under this project, altogether 3600 people with clefts belonging to Manipur, Mizoram, Naga-land, Assam and Myanmar have been operated successfully.
All persons between 6 to 18 years having clefts can correct their deformities free of cost under the project as guaranteed by the SSA's Inclusive Education for Diffe- rently Abled Persons.
Speaking to media persons about the ongoing project at Shija Hospital today, Shija Hospital Managing Director Dr Kh Palin said that there may be many children with clefts in the interior areas of Manipur even after 3500 people with similar deformities have been treated successfully free of cost in the last six years.
After Smile Train, New York and the Ministry of Human Resources have sign-ed an agreement, children with clefts are identified under SSA for surgical corrective operation under the Smile Train Shija SSA Cleft Project.
Additional State Project Director SSA State Mission Authority Manipur Ng Bho-gendro said that one of the objectives of SSA is to give formal education to children with clefts just like other children.
Under SSA's Inclusive Education for Differently Able Children programme, necessary assistance is being provided to differently able children.
As a part of the programme, a survey work to identify children with clefts is going on.
There are around 20,000 differently able children in Manipur as per census report.
However, only 13,200 such children have been identified according to SSA's date of 2013-14 .
Later, gifts were presented from the side of SSA to the eight children who would undergo cleft operations tomorrow.