There are few treatment options available for cleft patients in the region. The demand is correspondingly large: 85 patients had registered for our second aid mission in Raiganj. From February 11th to 14th, Dr. Swarnav and his team are hard at work. Every day of surgery begins early in the morning and ends late in the evening. 58 treated children are the positive result of the four-day assignment. For most children, it is the first surgery to close the cleft lip. Lip surgery usually takes place in the first year of life. Many of the children treated in Raiganj however are older and have gone without treatment for a long time, a clear indication of the lack of help available in the region previously.
Raiganj is our second location in West Bengal. In 2018 we opened a cleft center in Kolkata. In Kolkata, children receive comprehensive care beyond surgery with speech therapy and orthodontics. In Kolkata and Raiganj we want to carry out around 1,500 operations in 2021. Besides Varanasi, our two locations in West Bengal are the three largest of our total of 26 Indian locations.