‘Smile Train Shija Cleft project – Ukhrul Mission’ and ‘Shija mission for Vision’
Somdal Camp, 22nd April 2010


On 21st of April 2010, a team from SHRI left Imphal for Ukhrul at around 12:00 noon for a detection camp (Cataract, Cleft lip & palate) at Somdal, a village 55kms away from Ukhrul District Headquarter of Manipur.
It was a cloudy Wednesday, the team comprising of 2 consultants (Dr. Sachindra L and Dr. Ramananda H), 2 Ophthalmic Assistants (Homendrajit L and Nandakumar L), 2 SHRI marketing personnel (Harris Chongtham and Ajoy Kumar T) and a driver left SHRI for Ukhrul main town, 83kms east of Imphal.  
After spending the night in Ukhrul main town, the team headed towards Somdal the next day at around 7:00 am in the morning. After passing through a treacherous, non-existent and difficult ‘muddy’ road (very skillfully maneuvered by the driver), the team reached Somdal at around 9:30 am in the same morning. The already bad condition of the road was further worsened and compounded by the incessant rain.
The camp kicked off as soon as the team reached Somdal. Already there was a huge crowd waiting at the Public Health Centre (PHC), Somdal. Some were already stationed at the PHC from the previous day itself who came just for the camp. These people are from the neighboring villages who had to start their journey much before the camp started because there are still no transport facilities and proper roads to reach the camp site. Some even had to walk 30 Kms by foot just to reach the camp site.
Around 250 patients turned up for the camp and were all screened for cataract and cleft lip/palate. Among these patients, 38 were found to have cataract and 3 cleft lips/palate patients were found and recorded. These detected patients are to be brought to SHRI in two batches to be operated and treated. Transportation and treatment (surgery and other associated treatments) is to be provided free of cost for all the detected patients. This is the first time a camp like this has ever been organized in the history of Somdal, a place which depends on its PHC till date for the health care of the entire village and neighboring villages as well.  The camp was organized in collaboration with the State Blindness Control Society, District Program Manager (DPM) Ukhrul, District Administration of Ukhrul and SHRI under the on-going health campaigns of SHRI namely, ‘Smile Train Shija Cleft project – Ukhrul Mission’ and ‘Shija mission for Vision’. With the grace of God, things went according to plan albeit bad weather, road conditions and other things and thus, the camp was a great success. SHRI has been engaging itself for the past 4 years in such activities providing world class health-care facilities even to patients residing at some of the most remote places on Earth mainly emphasizing on reaching out to people stationed at far-flung areas who do not have access to adequate medical facilities and also to those who cannot afford to avail proper medical treatment due to economic constraints.  Now, SHRI is poised to take on more such social responsibilities in the immediate future with plans to reach out to every nook and corner of Manipur and render its services.