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Our History

“No Indian child in any community should have to live with a facial deformity that is correctable.”

Operation Smile is the largest worldwide humanitarian NGO dedicated to providing treatment to children born with clefts. Present CEO Dr. William P. Magee and his wife Kathy Magee began this heartfelt journey in 2002 when Operation Smile conducted its first mission to perform corrective surgery for cleft lips and cleft palates in children and young adults in Manipal. This mission, in partnership with the Manipal Group at the Kasturba Medical College, exposed the scale of the cleft problem in India and the need for free, comprehensive and urgent cleft care. Operation Smile India was established as a Registered Indian Trust in Delhi in 2003 with offices in Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata and Guwahati.

Since its inception Operation Smile India has conducted free medical evaluations for over 12,000 children and provided free corrective surgeries to more than 7,700 children. Globally the organisation has treated over 145,000 children in 51 countries. A team consisting of 5,000 volunteers provides these surgeries - apart from this pool, other highly trained medical volunteers donate their time and expertise on an annual basis.

In keeping with our goal of fostering self-sufficiency wherever we operate, Operation Smile leaves behind medicines and equipment at the working sites. Taking it a step further, we also offer training and certification courses (American Heart Association approved) like Basic Life Support (BLS), Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS) and Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS). The happy outcome is a meeting of dual objectives – reaching out to those affected with facial deformities and helping to train thousands of medical professionals across the world.

The birth rate in India for cleft deformities is a staggering 1 in every 700 infants (Impact India survey, 2002 and The Economic Times, January 2006). This means that about 35,000 children are born every year with cleft deformities (Frontline, February 2001) adding to the backlog of an estimated 1 million adults presently left untreated due to a lack of resources.

Cleft lip and Cleft palate, especially in children go way beyond the realm of medical need. Apart from causing difficulties in breathing, eating and speaking, the greatest discomfort these children face is often cruel ridicule for their appearance and at times ostracization from society. In a country like India where a large portion of the rural population still believes in superstitions, people consider children with cleft lip deformity to be bad luck and some even consider them cursed. The stigma attached to their deformity causes affected children, who are otherwise completely healthy, to lead incomplete, fractured lives. They are often forbidden from attending school, playing with other children, being seen at social gatherings and some are even barred from leaving their homes.

Our work is vital in addressing the sheer magnitude of this situation in India.

While we have conducted highly successful missions in different parts of India (Gujarat, Rajasthan, Sikkim and Andhra Pradesh), given the gargantuan spread of the country, we have chosen to immerse our energies henceforth on a region at a time. Our present activities are entirely concentrated in the Eastern regions of India focusing on Assam, West Bengal and Jharkhand.

Apart from conducting missions Operation Smile India also has 3 fully functional Comprehensive Cleft Care Centres, in Kolkata, Vijayawada and Guwahati, where free cleft surgeries and follow-up care are provided all year round.