Our Puducherry mission (25th Feb -1st Mar) 2018 was remarkable in many ways. It gives us pride and pleasure in sharing the mission’s high points with you. But, before we disclose these high points, let us give you a synopsis of the task itself.
Our 96th SmileStone
We organised our 3rd Mission in Puducherry in partnership with Muthoot Pappachan Foundation at New Medical Centre, Puducherry. This was our 96th Mission overall. As we were inching closer to our 100th mission, we were mustering even more courage and determination. We brought smiles to the cleft afflicted children and adults across the nation.
Grand Inauguration
Dr Rashmi Taneja, immediate Past Chairperson- Mission Smile, inaugurated the mission. Other dignitaries present were Dr Prasanthkumar Nellickal-Head CSR, Muthoot Pappachan Group & Dr Arjun Sundaram-Executive Director-New Medical Centre. Volunteers across the country were present on occasion. Also present were the beneficiaries and their relatives.
Surgery Figures- The Significant 53!
In 4 surgical days, our team of 20 volunteers came from across India. The NMC team and Muthoot Fincorp Team from the Puducherry unit were also present. They screened 84 beneficiaries. The surgeons performed 53 surgeries. The high point is that 51 beneficiaries out of the 53 who operated upon (96%) turned up for the post-op check-up after one week. On the follow-up days, no complications were found post-surgery. This itself is an achievement of the Puducherry mission. It holds the affirmation of the highest quality of free treatment offered to beneficiaries at our surgical camps and medical missions.
The 1500th Smile
During the Puducherry Mission on 27th Feb 2018, we conducted the 1500th cleft rectification surgery. However, this was within the ambit of our partnership with Muthoot Pappachan Foundation under its ‘Smile Please’ campaign. Muthoot Pappachan Group launched the ‘Smile Please’ campaign in Oct 2014. It has obviously helped create awareness of cleft issues and conducted free cleft lip or cleft palate surgery among children across 11 states in India. This was, of course, in association with Mission Smile (formerly Operation Smile India).
We thank Dr Prasanthkumar Nellickal, Head CSR, Muthoot Pappachan Foundation, the Muthoot Pappachan Group Leadership team, and all Muthoot Group volunteers for their support.
Every Event Remains Incomplete Without Its Leaders
In this context, we would like to thank Dr Ramkumar Venkateswaran, Dr Gautam Sarkar & Dr Sakthivel, who have been great leaders in assisting the Mission team. We thank Dr Arjun Sundaram and his team for their selfless contributions. They did all coordinations with the hospital to make the Puducherry mission function as smoothly as possible. We also thank the student volunteers from Puducherry University. Our heartfelt gratitude to Dr Prasanthkumar Nellickal and his team from Muthoot Fincorp Ltd. Finally, we extend our gratitude to Dr Rashmi Taneja and Col. Shivaji Samaddar for all the guidance to the team and for encouraging us with their presence.
As we are inching closer to our objective of making India ‘cleft free. We need your support more than ever before.
Donate to Mission Smile to transform lives.