Smile Train is the world’s largest cleft lip and palate charity. Their overriding goal is to make safe and quality treatment of cleft lip and palate, accessible to the millions who cannot afford it. Since the year 2000, Smile Train has sponsored over 200,000 safe, quality surgeries across India, totally free of cost.
Mr. Satish Kalra - Regional Director, South Asia: Mr. Satish Kalra is an engineer and has worked for over 30 years in senior management positions with Unilever and Ciba-Geigy in India, Switzerland and in Singapore — where, by his own admission, he was bitten by the ‘cleft bug’ and decided to join Smile Train as Regional Director for South Asia. There are now 120 partner hospitals in India and Sri Lanka. Under Satish’s leadership, Smile Train has provided over 100,000 free cleft reconstructive surgeries on kids who would otherwise never been able to afford them.
Interview with Mr.Satish Kalra
Smile Train is a global charity devoted to the cause of helping poor children born with cleft lips and palates in developing countries. But it’s a charity like no other in at least 3 ways: First, it focuses exclusively on one problem – that of clefts. There are far too many problems facing mankind and Smile Train acknowledges it’s too small to solve them all; so instead of going after many it decided to put all its efforts and resources behind one and make a difference! Second, unlike most medical charities Smile Train does not bring foreign doctors on medical missions to developing countries. It works only with local doctors – helping, training and empowering them to solve the country’s cleft problems. The intention is to create eventual self sufficiency rather than perpetuate dependence. It also instills pride, creates ownership….and costs a lot less! And finally, Smile Train doesn’t just hand over money – it tracks the quality of sponsored surgical outcomes, carries out safety audits and makes sure the children receiving free surgery do not end up receiving bad surgery or have their lives endangered by poor medical practices. It’s an article of faith within Smile Train that a child’s life is as precious in, say, a slum of Kolkata as it is in America, and we will never, ever, knowingly put him or her to a risk we won’t accept for our own children. It is estimated that about 35,000 children are born with clefts in India every year and there’s a backlog of over 10 lakh people with unrepaired clefts. A cleft is one of the few birth defects that can be fully and easily corrected in the hands of a good surgeon yet almost 50% children in developing countries never get to see a doctor. Depends on what you mean by a ‘regular’ hospital. A cleft repair requires a very highly trained and experienced plastic surgeon and most ‘regular’ hospitals don’t have one. The few private hospitals where such surgeons are available are way too expensive, and the (even fewer) government hospitals with plastic surgeons are too busy taking care of emergencies (accidents, burns to name a few) to tackle clefts. “No child dies of a cleft” is the common excuse for turning them away….true, but try seeing ‘life’ through the eyes of a cleft child; he dies a thousand deaths every day! Around 170 hospitals and over 250 surgeons Yes. Training and continual upgradation of skills is as much our agenda as repairing clefts. We regularly organize world class cleft seminars, symposia, workshops etc where the best cleft surgeons of the world gather and share their experiences. Most rural areas have no hospitals that come up to our safety standards and we won’t compromise those. Consequently most of our centers are in urban areas – but with a few shining exceptions. Absolutely. All partner hospitals are bound by an Agreement under which the entire treatment under Smile Train programs has to be totally free with no hidden costs. This is periodically verified through third party independent audits and non compliance leads to immediate termination. Hospitals and surgeons see great value in an association with Smile Train. It’s like becoming a member of an exclusive club that admits only the finest! For a plastic surgeon to be ‘credentialed’ under Smile Train is a professional honor and they particularly appreciate the outstanding networking opportunities with other world class surgeons, the invitations to ‘best in class’ medical seminars and be associated with the Who’s Who of their specialty. This is made possible by our purely voluntary and completely honorary Medical Advisory Board that sets all medical policies, oversees quality and safety protocols and is the last (and only) word for credentialing of hospitals and surgeons. This Board comprises of some of the finest doctors from related specialties, known and respected for their professional excellence, huge experience and unimpeachable integrity. It’s much better now – and growing after the Oscar won by ‘Smile Pinki’ but ignorance about clefts and the availability of free treatment is still one of our major impediments to growth.
Please tell us about the organization and work you do?
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How acute is the ‘cleft lip’ problem in India? Can it not be addressed by regular hospitals?
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How many hospitals and doctors are associated with Smile Train India?
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Do you train doctors for free?
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Does Smile Train work in rural areas?
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Does everyone associated with Smile Train offer ‘free’ surgery for children with cleft lips?
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What about the economic model for partnership with the program? Why should doctors/ hospitals associate with the program? Any benefits for them?
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Is there enough awareness about help available for cleft lip surgeries?
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