JMI organises MHRD-SPARC workshop as part of project on cleft lip patients

Faculty of Dentistry of Jamia Millia Islamia(JMI) organized the first SPARC-MHRD Workshop titled ‘Training in Standardized Data Collection and Record Maintenance’ on 7th December 2019.
It was attended by plastic surgeons, oral surgeons, and orthodontists, speech therapists and biostatisticians from different parts of the country.
The workshop was organised as a part of the project “Evaluation of cleft care outcomes of nonsyndromic unilateral cleft lip and palate (UCLP) patients at ages 5, 12 and 20 across India: The Cleft Care India Study”.
It was inaugurated by Prof(Dr.) B. Srinivas, Assistant Director General (ME), Directorate of Health Services, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India as the Chief Guest and Prof(Dr.) Sarita Kohli, Dean, Faculty of Dentistry, JMI.
The International resource persons for the workshop were Dr. Jonathan Sandy and Dr. Badri Thiruvenkatachari. Dr. Jonathan Sandy, Professor in the Orthodontics at the University of Bristol, UK, and the lead in Cleft Collective UK across Europe stressed on the need for customizing the cleft care to the unique needs and the vast number of patients in India.
Prof. Badri Thrivenkatachari from the University of Manchester, the International Principal Investigator of the project, trained the participants in standardized methods of data collection and record-keeping.
The workshop led to a collaboration of 27 prime centers of comprehensive cleft care across India and a consensus was achieved on the data required to assess the standard of care of the unilateral cleft lip and palate patients.
Prof. B. Srinivas said that such baseline data is required for the formulation of protocols and strategies to improve cleft care at a national level.
Prof.Sarita Kohli commented that such clinical audits are the need of the hour as it is the moral obligation of the clinicians to assess the treatment rendered by them and continuously improve the standards.
The portal developed for sharing of data in the project was inaugurated by the Chief Guest Dr.B.Srinivas.
The Indian investigators of this project are Dr. Panchali Batra, (Indian PI), Dr, Deborah Sybil (Indian Co-PI) Professor Dept. of Orthodontics and Department of Oral Surgery respectively, Faculty of Dentistry, JMI and Dr. Deepak Nanda, Consultant Plastic Surgeon from VMMC and Safdarjung hospital, New Delhi.
Ms. Mamta Carrol, Vice President and Regional Director, Asia Pacific, Smile Train detailed the work being done by their organization in cleft care in India.
Dr. Puneet Batra, President, Indian Society for Cleft Lip Palate and Craniofacial anomalies, advisor on the project, encouraged the investigators and assured full support to the project.
Dr. Krishnamurthy Bonanthaya, President-elect Indian Society for Cleft Lip Palate and Craniofacial anomalies and Dr.D.K Shukla, Senior Consultant and Biostatistician at the Indian Council of Medical Research provided significant inputs which will go a long way in making the project a success.
Dr. Panchali Batra informed that similar kind of projects have taken place in Europe and America and their results have led to the centralization of services and abandoning unsafe surgical protocols.
The investigators expect a successful collaboration with the centers and aim to present their recommendations for improved cleft care in India in a monograph to be published at the end of the project

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