Plastic Surgery

A Social Initiative By Bharatiya Jain Sanghatana (BJS)

The newly born babies with congenital facial deformities face health problems like not being able to feed, speak or see properly; psychological problems like not being able to participate in mainstream education.

In India, a child born with a cleft lip or other facial deformities is thought to be a curse on both the child and the family. Many families, particularly those from lower socioeconomic classes, are forced to live as outcasts and suffer from social stigma. The cost of such surgeries, which is well beyond the reach of the economically disadvantaged, is the primary reason why people do not get operated despite their desire to do so. In addition, only a small percentage of medical students in India choose plastic surgery as a career path, resulting in a scarcity of qualified plastic surgeons in the country. People in rural areas are the hardest hit, as they do not have the financial means to pay for such costly surgeries, nor do they have the necessary infrastructure. For girls of marriageable age, deformities such as cleft lip, facial scars, or squint eyes are a source of mental anguish.

BJS, in collaboration with the late Dr. Sharadkumar Dicksheet, a world-renowned Indian-born American plastic surgeon, has been organizing Free Plastic Surgery Camps for underprivileged children since 1993, bringing smiles to thousands of faces. He performed over 2 lakh plastic surgeries until 2011. He was a multiple Nobel Peace Prize nominee who was awarded the fourth highest civilian award in India, the "Padma Shri," by the Indian government in 2001. BJS continues to run these camps with the help of his associate doctors as a tribute to him.

Highlights of this initiative:

• Starting these camps in 1990, BJS has restored smiles on the faces of over 200,000 such persons comprising children, youth, and aged people.
• The only way of treating deformities like Cleft Lips, Squint eyes, or Facial scars is plastic surgery and we have been successfully helping the ones who can’t afford the expenses of these surgeries.