"The partnership with Smile Train, a US-based international charity, will leave no stone unturned to treat such cases in the state's Kalahandi-Bolangir, Rayagada and Koraput region," he said.
Cleft lip and cleft palate are birth defects that occur when a baby's lip or mouth do not form properly.
In India, over 35,000 children are born every year with clefts and over 50 per cent of them remain untreated for lack of awareness.
Smile Train conducts free cleft lip and palate surgeries worldwide and has completed more than 80,000 such surgeries. Vedanta Hospital is the only Smile Train Centre in western Odisha, Kumar said.
Source: IANS
