100 Smiles in 100th Mission

Dear Smile Givers, 

After 16 years, we reached the milestone of 100th Medical Mission in India. We celebrated it by bringing 100 Smiles to children born with Cleft.

Thank you for donating generously for this campaign!

This campaign helped us to fund the gap to provide surgeries to 100 Kids.

You will be glad to hear that we did not 100 but 103 Surgeries in the Mission in 5 Days. The mission was organized at Kolkata, India from March 15 – 20, 2019.

Over 50 volunteers from India and across the globe participated in the mission. There were student volunteers from five universities got a first-hand experience working for these kids.

This mission changed the life of many children and we are happy to share we treated patients ranging from 6 months old to 68 years old. 67% of the kids that we operated in the mission were under the age of 5.

In this mission, we saw volunteers from state universities, international medical professional and Indian railway scout group. We were able to provide 103 surgeries and done two post-operative care camps for these cleft patients. We are happy to share that more than 90% of patients retention was seen in these camps. 

Best 

Anupam Sarkar

Links:

• Mission Smile

Dear Smile Giver

After 16 years, we reached the milestone of 100th Medical Mission in India. We celebrated it by bringing 100 Smiles to children born with Cleft.

Thank you for donating generously for this campaign !

This campaign helped us to fund the gap to provide surgeries to 100 Kids.

You will be glad to hear that we did not 100 but 103 Surgeries in the Mission in 5 Days. The mission was organised at Kolkata, India from March 15 – 20, 2019.

Over 50 volunteers from India and across the globe participated in the mission. There were student volunteers from five universities got a first hand experience working for these kids.

67% of the kids that we operated in the mission were under the age of 5. All the kids received safe surgeries and are looking forward to a life free from 'Cleft'.

This is all possible because of your support.

Thank you.

Please find few images of the mission attached.

Best

Anupam Sarkar

Dear All

Thank you for your generous support that made our 100^th Celebratory Medical Mission possible. You would be glad to know that the mission has been scheduled from 14-21^st March, 2019 at Kolkata, India.

Since our first medical mission in 2002 at Manipal, we have a come a long way to finally complete our 100^th Successful medical mission in 2019. Till date 37,000 + Kids and adults with Cleft have received their much needed surgery and care because of the support of donors like you.

 In this journey, we have achieved several milestones like organising a 500 Surgery Mission and a 1000 Surgery Mission. Still a record for number of children operated at a single mission site anywhere in the world.

This upcoming mission is not only a celebration of the kids whose lives we could change together but also of the donors like you who believed in our work and supported us generously.

I am joined by Col. Shivaji Samaddar, Chief Operating Officer to invite you for the Celebratory 100^th Medical Mission. Your presence would encourage our volunteers – who would be coming together to bring smiles to 100+ children and adults born with cleft.

The site of the mission is:  South Eastern Railway Central Hospital, South Eastern Railway Quarters, Rail Colony, Garden Reach, Kolkata, West Bengal 700043. They are giving us the space and the Operating Theatres for carrying out the surgeries.

The itinerary for the event is as given below:

I. 14th March, 2019 - Team Arrival

II. 15th March, 2019 - Awareness Walkathon - Inauguration - Patient Screening

III. 16th -20th March 2019 - Surgery Days

IV. 20th March 2019 - Celebration Dinner

V. 21st March 2019 - Team departure

The patient identification camps are being organised in various villages and we expect 180+ patient turn up for the 100 Surgeries Mission.

To confirm your presence, please drop me a note on anupam.sarkar@missionsmile.org.

Looking forward to your presence.

Best

Anupam Sarkar | Senior Manager - Partnerships

M: +91-9007883789 | E: anupam.sarkar@missionsmile.org

 Mission Smile

DPSC Plot no X-1, 2 ,& 3

Block EP, Sector 5, Salt Lake,

Kolkata-700091

www.missionsmile.org  

Dear Smiles Giver

Thank you for your generous donation to ur project. Patient recruitment activities for the mission has started. (Please find the attached report with photographs of the activities.)

You would be glad to hear that the patient recruitment activities have started for the 100th Medical Mission. The mission will provide 100 Free Cleft Corrective Surgeries.

Cleft, as you are aware, is a congenital deformity that affects 1 in 700 infants born in India. Majority of the children born with cleft come from extremely impoverished back grounds and remote villages without adequate hospital facilities. Cleft is also associated with many superstitions so in extreme cases, we find the mother and child facing social ostracisation because of the condition.

Patient recruitment activities are critical for a medical mission especially as we need to identify and arrange logistics for around 200 children and adults born with Cleft for the mission.

So what does patient recruitment activities involve?

1. Patient Awareness Drives: This includes loud speaker, leaflet and banner campaigns in the region to make the public aware that Cleft is correctable and they can avail free surgeries in the medical mission and they are given details for attending a local screening camp.

Figure 1 : Village Awareness Campaigns

Figure 2 Loudspeaker campaign in progress

1. Patient Screening Camps: These are locally organised camps where the initial responses from the awareness drives are screened. They are screened on the basis of the minimum age and weight criteria needed for the surgery. The successfully screened children and infants are transported for the mission.

Figure 3 - Screening Camp in progress at a local club

The Patient Recruitment activities: Currently, patient recruitment activities is being undertaken in 100-150 KM radius from the mission-site which includes around 7 Districts and over 300 villages.

I will write to you soon with more updates from the field.

Happy Diwali and an advance Thanksgiving wishes to all of you.

Looking forward to your continued love and support.

Best

Anupam Sarkar | Senior Manager - Partnerships

M: +91-9007883789 | E: anupam.sarkar@missionsmile.org

Mission Smile

DPSC Plot no X-1, 2 ,& 3

Block EP, Sector 5, Salt Lake, Kolkata-700091

www.missionsmile.org

• Patient Recruitment Report (PDF)