How Smile Train Hospitals Bihar Are Changing Lives

 Introduction: Smile Train – Giving Children New Reasons to Smile

The smile of a child brings happiness to most of the families. However, in other cases where a child is born with either a cleft lip or a cleft palate, the smile may be augmented by medical issues, social prejudice and emotional misery. Unattended, these treatable conditions may cause severe feeding and speaking, as well as psychological problems. The charitable program of cooperation of Mediversal Maatri with Smile Train Hospitals Bihar has enabled children in Bihar and the surrounding states to now receive free cleft treatment and save their lives. This collaboration is changing lives, not just because of the correction of facial differences but due to the regaining of confidence, dignity and futures. 

Understanding the Need: What Is a Cleft Lip or Palate?

Cleft palate or cleft lip occurs in cases where the baby is born with a depression or hole in the upper lip and/or the roof of the mouth. It is one of the most prevalent congenital disorders affecting individuals in the world, it comes early during the pregnancy and approximately, 1 in 700 births.

If not treated early, children may face:

• Difficulty in breastfeeding and proper nutrition
• Delayed or unclear speech
• Repeated ear infections and hearing loss
• Challenges with teeth alignment
• Low self-esteem and social isolation

In places like rural Bihar, many families still do not know that this condition can be fully cured with the timely medical care. This is where Mediversal Maatri’s partnership with Smile Train steps in.

The Mission of Smile Train

Smile Train is the largest organization in the world positively impacting people with clefts and carrying out safe and free cleft lip and palate surgery in Patna by collaborating with local hospitals and surgeons. Rather than sending in teams of volunteers and organizing temporary missions, Smile Train gives power to local hospitals and medical professionals promising sustainable and uninterrupted support. Through training, equipment and infrastructure Smile Train helps hospitals such as Mediversal Maatri to become centres of excellence in the region, providing quality treatment of cleft. They have constructed their model based on the integration of the community, the continuous care of the growing year, and the local knowledge.

Mediversal Maatri in Partnership with Smile Train

Patna has become a centre of trust and Mediversal Maatri has teamed with Smile Train and becomes a reliable place for cleft care. This partnership provides children in the most remote places of the state with high-quality, entirely free of charge for cleft lip and palate surgery in Patna and treatment plans.

What Mediversal Maatri offers under this partnership:

• Free cleft lip and cleft palate surgeries
• Pre-surgical and post-surgical care
• Speech therapy for clear communication
• Nutritional counselling and emotional support for families
• Regular outreach camps and follow-up care

Highly trained plastic and reconstructive surgeons do all the surgeries appropriately, assisted by pediatric and speech therapy teams which are quite experienced. The families are assisted throughout the diagnosis to complete recovery.

Impact in Numbers: How Lives Are Being Transformed

Since becoming a Smile Train partner in 2024, Mediversal Maatri has already made a profound impact:

• 400+ successful cleft lip and palate surgery in Patna performed with high safety standards
• 1800+ speech therapy sessions helping children regain their voice
• 24+ outreach camps organized across rural Bihar and Jharkhand
• Average age at first surgery: 6 months, ensuring early health benefits

Each of these milestones represents a child who now eats better, speaks clearly, and smiles confidently.

Stories That Inspire: Transforming Little Lives at Mediversal Maatri

At Mediversal Maatri, every child’s journey is a testament to hope and healing.

Aarav’s Journey

At 9 months, Aarav from Motihari struggled to feed and gain weight. After surgery at Mediversal Maatri, he now thrives at a healthy weight and has spoken his first words.

Shreya’s Confidence

Three-year-old Shreya from Gaya was teased for unclear speech. Palate repair and six months of therapy at Mediversal Maatri helped her find her voice. Today, she proudly recites rhymes in her playschool.

Stories like these inspire us every day to deliver expert care and help children lead healthier, happier lives.

Community Outreach and Rural Impact

The partnership between Mediversal Maatri and Smile Train goes beyond hospital walls.

The team conducts routine outreach and screening camps in underserved areas of Bihar, leading to early detection of cleft conditions and providing clear guidance to families on an available and free way of treatment.

These camps involve:

• On-site check-ups and diagnosis
• Immediate registration for cleft lip and palate surgery in Patna
• Transportation and lodging support (when required)
• Post-surgery follow-up guidance

Many community health workers also play a key role in creating awareness so that no child remains behind as lack of information or access does not become the problem.

Why This Work Matters More Than Ever

Cleft is not only an aesthetic problem. It interferes with the way a child consumes, communicates and is viewed within the society.

In absence of early treatment, it may result in malnutrition, impaired development, and social rejection. Hundreds of children are having their story rewritten through the Mediversal Maatri and the Smile Train Hospitals Bihar partnership.

With each successful operation, there are years of pain and hardships avoided as well as access to education, vital communication, and self-confidence gained. This work is more to show that healing does not only occur in operating rooms, but it starts with recognition, empathy and adherence to provide equitable care.

How You Can Support or Refer a Child

If you know a child with a cleft lip or palate, here’s how you can help:

• Visit: Mediversal Maatri’s Smile Train
• Call: The helpline to schedule a free screening or surgery
• Spread awareness: Let people know that this life-changing care is safe and 100% free

No financial burden. No long wait times. Just expert care, close to home.

Conclusion

Mediversal Maatri becomes a partner and force in Smile Train with a global vision due to compassion and competence. Collectively, they are not only performing cleft lip and palate surgery in Patna; they are really transforming lives in Bihar and beyond. With the help of policy makers, expert surgical care, speech therapy, parental guidance, and the active contribution of the communities, this partnership is providing the children with a second chance to smile, to talk, and lead an honourable existence. Not just smiles are restored through every successful surgery. It restores confidence, breaks the barriers and makes a child free to eat, talk, learn and play as any other. It also relief, hope and joy to parents who used to fear their child’s future.

Such specialized services are not always easily available in a region, however since the collaboration of Mediversal Maatri, and Smile Train Hospitals Bihar, no child will ever again be deprived of timely, quality and free treatment regardless of their income capacity and district he/she is located. 

Reach out to Mediversal Maatri if you know of anyone who needs help.