CreditAccess India Foundation (CAIF), the CSR arm of CreditAccess Grameen Ltd (CA Grameen), India’s largest microfinance institution (NBFC-MFI) in partnership with Mission Smile has launched ‘Grameen Smile’, a cleft lip and palate surgery initiative at H.P. Ghosh Hospital, Kolkata. The initiative aims to provide free, safe and comprehensive cleft care to children from economically disadvantaged families.
The initiative aims to facilitate access to corrective cleft lip and palate surgeries, related medical care and post-operative follow-up for eligible children across West Bengal and Odisha. Under the programme, a minimum of 100 free cleft surgeries will be supported, comprising 50 surgeries in Kolkata district, West Bengal, and 50 surgeries in Khordha district, Odisha, for children aged 6 months to 18 years.
Cleft lip and palate, when left untreated, can affect a child’s ability to feed and receive adequate nutrition, delay speech development and contribute to social exclusion at school and beyond. Grameen Smile seeks to address this gap by making comprehensive cleft care accessible to children who may otherwise struggle to receive timely treatment.
The initiative builds on CAIF’s growing healthcare portfolio, which has already reached more than 31,000 beneficiaries through previous programmes. These include the immunisation of over 6,000 rural schoolgirls against cervical cancer, in partnership with local Zilla Parishads and NGOs, and multi-cancer and general health screening camps that have reached more than 25,000 people across Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. With Grameen Smile, CAIF is expanding its healthcare efforts to include specialised surgical care, reaffirming its commitment to ensuring that financial constraints do not stand between children and timely, quality healthcare.
Speaking on the launch, Gururaj Rao, Chief Operating Officer, CA Grameen, & Director, CA India Foundation said “At CreditAccess Grameen, inclusion has always meant standing by our communities on the issues that shape a family’s future, and a child’s health is at the heart of that commitment. Through Grameen Smile, we want every child born with a cleft condition to have the chance to eat, speak and smile with confidence, regardless of what their family can afford. This is only the beginning of our long-term commitment to bringing quality surgical care within reach of the communities we serve.”
Conrad G. Dennis, Chief Executive Officer, Mission Smile added “Every successful surgery represents a child’s opportunity to eat, speak, smile and live with confidence. We are grateful to CA India Foundation for joining hands with us in this important initiative. Together, we hope to bring many more smiles to children and their families.”
