Mr. G. Shiva Ganesh
Chief Trustee
The year 2015-16 was significant in INGA Health Foundation’s existence.
We widened our network to reach out to even more children suffering from facial deformities, virtually laying a new foundation: wherein we extended from addressing children from a limited geographic spread to a progressive pan-India footprint.
This expansion initiative has not come a day too soon. India accounts for the second largest population in the world, an approximately a sixth of humanity. About 1 in 500 Indian children suffers from cleft lip and palate deformity; one in every 2000 Indian children suffers from craniofacial deformity; the accretion to the Indian patient pool is nearly 75,000 children a year; the number of surgery professionals that can address Cleft lip and Palate is no more than 500 and most of these professionals are spread across India.
Less than 10 professionals address complex craniofacial deformities, and they are located mainly in the metros.
The need of the hour is to train more surgeons in addressing this deformity; enhancing awareness on the subject that makes it possible to attract donors; in drawing hospital owners to allocate a part of their infrastructure to this cause and working with like-minded complementary service providers to strengthen the overall eco-system.
INGA Health Foundation reinforced its infrastructure platform and focused on training surgeons and volunteers. Besides, the Foundation reached out to some of the largest industrial houses to mobilise growth capital that would help create dedicated surgical centres in large population clusters. We believe that our initiatives will translate into enhanced care, competence and competitiveness.
Over the last few years, INGA Health Foundation emerged as the only entity of its kind to execute craniofacial surgeries, treating over 1000 cases annually and delivering quality surgical care to children from underserved communities.
A lot of this credit goes to visionary surgeon Dr. Krishna Shama Rao, the only specialist to work in this challenging space in India.
A landmark initiative was our engagement with Operation Smile. This collaboration will make it possible for INGA Health Foundation to scale its capacity to treat children with facial deformities. We started a facility in Navi Mumbai on 5th November 2015, in Durgapur on 1st March 2019, in Siliguri on 1st September 2021, in Hazaribagh on 1st March 2022 to cater to the needs of these children. We have also successfully done 16 medical missions between 2017 and 2021 in collaboration with Operation Smile.
The Foundation plans to tie up with like-minded institutions to reach Asha centres, empowering INGA Health Foundation to reach remote rural pockets. INGA Health also seeks global accreditations (ISO certification) to enhance process consistency that reinforces our reputation as a processdriven organisation. It is enlarging the fraternity of doctors in the field of cleft and craniofacial surgeries, empowering it to reach more patients. It is extending its footprint to Northern India, North Eastern India and Tamil Nadu.
We believe that given our momentum, we will train more doctors and surgeons, empower children to lead healthy lives and make the world a hopeful and better place.
Sincerely,
Mr. G. Shiva Ganesh
Chief Trustee,
INGA Health Foundation
Collaboration with OperationSmile
Operation Smile, an international children’s medical charity, providesfree life-changing surgeries for children with cleft lips, cleft palates and facial deformities. Operation Smile has helped morethan 300,000 people receive lifechanging surgical and dental care.
The collaboration will focuson training (surgical andnon-surgical) for surgeons inBangalore, Srinagar and Mumbai. A detailed curriculum will growthe medical fraternity in the cleft and craniofacial surgery spaces.
The collaboration will empower INGA Health Foundation toestablish a global platform that provides free services in this areaof facial deformity on the one hand and attract like-mindedglobal doctors towards its causeon the other.
Tie-up with IQ City Hospital
In 2018-19, a cleft centre was started at IQ City Narayana Multispecialty Hospital, Durgapur; In 2021-22 two cleft spoke cenetrs were started in Siliguri & Hazaribagh in partnership with Foundation, Operation Smile and Hospital to address patients from different parts of the state and the adjoining state.
Medical Missions
INGA Health Foundation in partnership with Operation Smile have successfully done 16 medical missions between 2017 and 2021. Through these medical missions 2,019 free cleft surgeries have been done.
The INGA Health Foundationvision is to commission acomprehensive surgical centre ineach Indian state to treat deserving children free and emerge as a centre of first recall. INGA Health Foundation forgedlongstanding arrangementswith 7 hospitals across 3 statesand 1 union territory (Karnataka, West Bengal, Jharkhand and J&K).
INGA Health Foundation has received support from several business houses includingOracle, HDFC Credila, HDFC ERGO, TATA Group, GreatEastern Shipping Corporation,HDFC, GlaxoSmithkline, TTK Prestige, Compuage Infocom, Neogen Chemicals, RajratanGlobal, Natco Pharma, Link Intime, Ucal Fuel Systems, Jhunjhunwala Foundation, Sachin Tendulkar Foundation, Allcargo, TCFC, Gufic etc.