Ali Fazal joins hands with Smile Train to bring smiles to children with clefts at Narayana – SRCC Children’s Hospital, Mumbai

Ali Fazal inaugurates Smile Train India’s new cleft project with Narayana – SRCC Children’s Hospital, Mumbai

Mumbai, September 11, 2018 (GPN) : Accomplished actor and model, Ali Fazal joined hands with Smile Train, the world’s largest cleft charity, as a Smile Train Ambassador to create awareness and support for children born with clefts across the country.

Expressing his happiness on partnering with Smile Train India, Ali Fazal said,“Clefts are often not considered to be a serious global health issue.  Smile Train’s focused approach of empowering local medical professionals to treat children born with clefts in their own communities has helped many families smile. It has also ensured a brighter future for these children. I am looking forward to working with Smile Train India as their Ambassador to help raise much needed awareness about clefts in the country.”

The association was announced by Smile Train at NHSRCC Children’s Hospital, Mumbai where free cleft surgeries will be provided under the Smile Train India program. Ali Fazal inaugurated the Smile Train – SRCC Cleft Project, spent time with cleft patients and encouraged them to pursue their dreams. Smile Train’s partner surgeon, Dr. Nitin Mokal and medical team were also present at the event.

Welcoming Ali Fazal, Mamta Carroll, Vice President and Regional Director- Asia, Smile Train, shared, “We are grateful to Ali for his support to further the cause of clefts and remind people that children with clefts can lead full, healthy and productive lives. In just 18 years, we have been able to provide funding to support free cleft surgeries to over 500,000 children with generosity of others to achieve our vision. We welcome Ali to our Smile Train family and together, look forward to bringing smiles to the faces of many children born with clefts.”

 

In India, over 35,000 children are born with cleft lips and/or palates every year. Children born with clefts have difficulty eating, breathing and speaking and often live a life of isolation. A cleft surgery that can take as little as 45 minutes can change that by giving the child an opportunity to go to school and grow up to be a contributing member of society.

Commenting on the partnership with Smile Train India, Dr. Soonu Udani, Medical Director, SRCC Children’s Hospital, said“We are proud to partner with Smile Train India to enable free cleft surgeries. At SRCC Children’s Hospital, quality and safety are kept at the core, which aligns with the principles that Smile Train India follows and we look forward to spreading more smiles through this association.”ENDS

About Smile Train India

Smile Train India is a children’s charity, with a sustainable approach to a single, solvable problem: cleft lip and palate. In India, over 35,000 children are born with clefts every year and hundreds of thousands of children with untreated clefts live in isolation, but more importantly, have difficulty eating, breathing and speaking. A cleft reconstructive surgery leads to immediate transformation. We advance a sustainable solution and scalable global health model for cleft treatment, drastically improving children’s lives, including their ability to eat, breathe, speak, and ultimately thrive. Since the year 2000, Smile Train’s sustainable model has provided training, funding and resources to empower local medical professionals and hospitals across India to provide 100%-free cleft surgery and comprehensive cleft care in their own communities. This ‘teach a man to fish’ strategy has enabled Smile Train India to support 500,000+ free surgeries through a network of over 160 partner hospitals. To learn more about how Smile Train India’s sustainable approach, please visit smiletrainindia.org .

About Narayana Health:

With all superspeciality tertiary care facilities that the medical world offers, Narayana Health is a one-stop healthcare destination for all. Founded by Dr. Devi Shetty and headquartered in Bengaluru, Narayana Health group is the second largest health care provider in the country in terms of operational bed count. The first facility was established with approximately 225 operational beds in 2000 at NH Health City in Bengaluru.  The Company today, runs a chain of multispecialty, tertiary and primary healthcare facilities across India with a network of 24 hospitals and 7 heart centres and a single hospital overseas at Cayman Islands with over 6,200 operational beds across all its centres and potential to reach a capacity of around 7,300 beds.

About the Author

Sachin Murdeshwar
Sachin Murdeshwar is a Sr.Journalist and Columnist in several Mainline Newspapers and Portals.He is an ardent traveller and likes to explore destinations to the core.