Opening the fourth centre in Mumbai

Speech therapy for integration - our Cleft-Centre in Mumbai has a particularly good speech therapy centre.

As a sign of respect for the great humanist, actor and author Sir Peter Ustinov - who throughout his life fought against prejudice, poverty and the exploitation of children and was furthermore someone who Prof. Sailer got to know personally and much appreciated - the Cleft-centre opened in Mumbai in 2004 was named after him. The centre is located in the Brahma Kumaris clinic, directed by Prof. Meta.

"On one of my trips - I cannot remember where it was - I had a chance encounter with Sir Peter Ustinov, a very interesting and friendly person. We started talking and quickly touched on engagement and help for children who need it more than anywhere else in the world. Peter Ustinov said how he had established a foundation bearing his name which worked to help orphans and street children, kids who are disadvantaged because of their poverty or because of their educational deficits. I, in turn, told him about the CCI Cleft-centres and we quickly noticed that our concerns and our work, in particular for people, unite rather than divide us. This chance encounter turned into a friendship and a collaboration: Ustinov's foundation then supported the work of the CCI for many years”. The centre is now under the leadership of Dr. Parit Ladani and disposes of an excellent speech therapy department. The department offers patients with cleft lips and palates particularly intensive follow-up speech therapy after their operation. This is necessary on the one hand so that parents can learn the correct pronunciation and phonetics themselves, which due to the impediments of the cleft lip or palate, they had not been able to be learn properly. And any children operated, who are themselves learning and developing their language for the first time, learn right from the start how to pronounce vowels so that after a while their cleft can neither be seen nor heard. Now they can develop at the same speed as their contemporaries and have the chance of integrating themselves fully into society. The Cleft-centre in Mumbai has treated 5,799 persons to date.