In a bid to facilitate home-based care of children with cleft lip and palate, the Department of Plastic Surgery, Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER) has started a dedicated teleconsultation helpline for them under the Smile Train Cleft Project.

According to a Jipmer release on Friday, parents and caregivers of children with such deformities can call on the helpline with their doubts on feeding, growth, surgery dates and speech issues. All calls will be received by the project coordinator initially who will collect the basic details of the children and transfer these details to the cleft surgeons in department of plastic surgery. The cleft care surgeons will call back to the parents at an appropriate time.

In case of speech therapy or speech issues related call, the project coordinator will transfer the details to speech language pathologists of the Department of Plastic Surgery who will make a call back to the patients. The video call facility through whatsapp is also available. Parents and caregivers of children with cleft lip and palate are encouraged to avail this facility, the release said.