~ For Jamshedpur, cleft lip will soon be a thing of the past ~

Tata Steel is set to host the third Jamshedpur-based mission of 'Operation Smile' from 17th to 25th March, 2011, at Tata Main Hospital. Following the good response of this camp during last two years, the team of 'Operation Smile' is ready to take forward this success saga of a cleft lip free region this year as well.

The primary screening session of 'Operation Smile' will begin on 17th and 18th March. The process shall be conducted by an expert team comprising plastic surgeon, anesthesiologist, paediatrician, dentist and speech therapist at the TMH OPD Parking Area. Based on their observations, the final list of those eligible for surgery will be announced on 19th March. The surgeries will begin from 20th, moving on till 25th. The team shall thereafter leave Jamshedpur on 26th March. Tata Main Hospital will also provide an OT and a separate ward within its campus for facilitating this mission.

'Operation Smile' team will comprise a total of 40 medical staff and paramedics joining in from five different countries. The support service such as lodging and other logistics of the patients and their parents as well as the infrastructure by way of hospital and pre & post operative facility will be provided by Tata Steel. The expertise behind this camp and the medical cargo shall be brought in by 'Operation Smile' team exclusively. A turnout of about 150 patients from over Jharkhand, Bihar, West Bengal and Orissa is expected this year.

'Operation Smile', one of the large humanitarian non-profit international volunteer medical services organization, was founded by Dr William P Magee, a plastic surgeon and his wife, Kathleen, a nurse and clinical social worker, in 1982, when the Magee's travelled to the Philippines with a group of medical volunteers to repair children's cleft lips and cleft palates.

The birth rate in India for cleft deformities is approximately one in every 700 infants (Impact India survey, 2002 and The Economic Times, January 2006). This means that about 35,000 children are born every year with cleft deformities (Frontline, February 2001) adding to the backlog of an estimated one million adults presently left untreated due to a lack of resources.

Ensuring the well being of its fellow citizens by way of a healthy life has been one of the priorities of Tata Steel as a responsible corporate citizen, ever since its inception. The Company has reached out to several thousands of children suffering from cleft lip deformity through several initiatives in Jamshedpur and its neighbouring as well as far flung areas. Cleft lip correction takes a significant place in Lifeline Express mission for all the fifteen times sponsored by Tata Steel. 'Operation Smile' is another such path-breaking initiative that Tata Steel has partnered to ensure that its fellow citizens lead a healthy and deformity free life.