The German Cleft Children’s Aid Society is the initiator of the two independent supporting organisations “The GCCRI”, which is located in Ahmedabad / Gujarat, and the “Maaya Foundation”, located in Bangalore / Karnataka. In nine cleft centres surgery is performed exclusively by qualified Indian oral and maxillofacial surgeons on two thousand patients from the poorest backgrounds. The renowned surgeon Prof. Dr. Krishna Shama Rao is the most important local partner and our friend. He supervises the quality of the surgery and provides further training for the directors of the centres. The little patients are treated in a comprehensive manner as far as it possible. This includes follow-up surgery, orthodontics and speech therapy. The Maaya Foundation’s board of trustees is made up of five people: Prof. Dr. Rao, Dr. Chetana Kumar, Mr G.S. Ganesh, German Cleft Children’s Aid Society chairperson Dr. Dr. Heinz Lübbe and managing director Alexander Gross.

Why our help in India is so important for other countries.

Our cleft centres in India are role models and motor for our other projects, especially in Vietnam and Peru. Through our network and the specialist exchange we are initiating steps of development in order to open interdisciplinary cleft centres in these countries as well.

Furthermore, up to twenty surgeons from our other project countries such as Afghanistan, Rwanda, Cameroon and Vietnam are trained annually by Prof. Dr. Rao and his experienced Indian team in the surgery of cleft lips and palates.

Join us in our help

There is a great need for aid in India. Every year some 30,000 to 50,000 children are born with a cleft deformation. Large parts of the Indian population have no access to medical treatment. With more than 2,000 operations and aftercare that we enable annually we are making an important contribution towards a high-quality treatment. And yet each operation of a child in India only costs around 200 euros. Help Indian cleft children to a life in dignity.

The directors of our centres

Dr. Manu Prasad and Team, Cleft Centre Mangalore / Karnataka

In 2011 the cleft centre found a new home at the Yenepoya University. Prof. Rao teaches there and provides further training for post graduate surgeons. With the young director Dr. Manu Prasad and Dr. Mustafa an additional two excellent surgeons are available at the centre. In Mangalore we are concentrating on the surgery of very complicated cases of congenital malformations in the area of the head which go beyond “classic” clefts. The patients come from all parts of India.

Dr. Mohammad Shakeel and Team, Cleft Centre Srinagar / Kashmir

Srinagar lies in the Indian part of Kashmir, and it is regrettable that our aid is repeatedly hindered by the local political unrests. On several occasions this year there were times where no operations were possible out of safety reasons. Whenever the security situation improves the number of operations immediately increases accordingly. It is also encouraging that we have an experienced and devoted speech therapist in Srinagar who provides ongoing treatment of the children.

Dr. Nehal Patel and Team, Cleft Centre Surat / Gujarat

Surat is a large industrial city, not too far away from Mumbai. Dr. Patel is not only a fine surgeon, but also in particular an accomplished organiser. Originally conceived as a small centre, the numbers of children - most of them from the rural areas - operated on are enormous. During the summer of 2011 Dr. Patel once again organised several Cleft-Camps in Gujarat’s inland and performed operations on lots of cleft children stemming from the poorest backgrounds.

Dr. Sobhan Mishra, Cleft Centre Bhubaneswar / Orissa

The Maaya Cleft Centre Bhubaneswar was able to make a great leap forward over the last few months as the large SOA University hospital is the new location of the centre from now on. Help is desperately needed in India’s second poorest state. This help is also specifically aimed at the indigenous population, who are called the Adivasi in India, many of which have never before been to see a doctor. The number of untreated clefts is accordingly high.

Dr. Siva Reddy and Team, Cleft Centre Vishakhapatnam / Andhra Pradesh

Dr. Reddy is an excellent surgeon and optimally networked in Vishakhapatnam. Local organisations assist him intensively with the educational work and in the search for the children. The patients are mostly from the rural areas and the mountainous regions of southern Orissa.

Dr. Vijay Vikram and Team, Cleft Centre Mumbai / Maharashtra

The Cleft Centre Mumbai belongs to the group of well-equipped centres, as it is incorporated within the new Navneet Hi-Tech Hospital in the north of Mumbai. In Mumbai the interdisciplinary treatment of the little patients works exceptionally well. We are especially pleased that the patients scheduled for surgery are also examined by an ear, nose and throat specialist who treats them on an honorary basis.

Dr. Uma Shankar, Cleft Centre Patna / Bihar

In Bihar, India’s poorest state, some 100 million people live in an area of 100,000 km². The capital city, Patna, is the second largest city in north-eastern India after Kolkata. Establishing a contact point for families of cleft children here has been a long-awaited goal. Dr. Shankar is a very busy surgeon with great dedication.

Dr. Gaurav Gupta, Cleft Centre Agra / Uttar Pradesh

The children Dr. Gupta performs surgery on are mostly from the rural areas of the very densely populated and predominantly agricultural state of Uttar Pradesh. With some 190 million inhabitants in an area of 243,000 km² Uttar Pradesh belongs - alongside Bihar - to the most densely populated regions of the world. Dr. Gupta’s wife and his parents support him in his work as best as they can. This enables him to conduct the large number of operationsn.

Dr. Shyam Sheth and Team, Cleft Centre Ahmedabad / Gujarat

Dr. Sheth is a passionate surgeon who deals with the children in a quiet and tender manner and absolves his twelve-hour day with great self-discipline and personal modesty. Many a Sunday he can be found in the rural areas of Gujarat where he conducts information campaigns for the affected families and examines the children on site.

Number of operations performed in 2011