OUR PEOPLE

Committee of Management

Operation Cleft is a project of the Rotary Club of Box Hill Central (District 9810) and is administered by the Operation Cleft Australia Foundation Trust.
The trust is administered by a management committee.

Bruce McEwen
Committee Chair

In-Country Team

After due consideration, the Operation Cleft Management Committee decided that effective July 1, 2015 Operation Cleft would be split into two major components; one being surgical and the other, speech therapy. The surgical program will continue with our team of Bangladeshi plastic surgeons completing around 1,000 operations annually. The Operation Cleft surgical program is implemented in Bangladesh by our in-country partner, the Glencoe Foundation Bangladesh. The Glencoe Foundation Bangladesh was established in Bangladesh in 2010 by Colin Macfarlane AM as an international NGO to run “Walk for Life”, the club foot correction program using the Ponseti method which was developed at the University of Iowa by Dr. Ignacio Ponseti, M.D.

Many will know Colin as he was also a founder of Operation Cleft and has always maintained his passion for this unique project that has such a huge impact on children’s lives. Colin and the team at Glencoe Foundation have injected new enthusiasm and vitality into the program.

Discussions have been entered into with CDD in regard to a speech therapy program.

Colin Macfarlane AM
Founder, Operation Cleft
& The Glencoe Foundation

Surgeons

To ensure sustainability, training is a very important component of Operation Cleft because although there are many hospitals in Bangladesh, there are very few qualified plastic surgeons. Our team of surgeons regularly perform their operations at “mini camps”. They consult at hospitals where there is no resident plastic surgeon and perform cleft repair surgery for 2 – 3 days. This is a unique training opportunity for resident surgeons and trainee plastic surgeons (registrars) to learn. The objectives of the training programme are to build on the strength of trainees and develop high level competencies in plastic and reconstructive surgery, ultimately increasing the number of qualified plastic surgeons in Bangladesh.

Surgical Outreach and Training Program

To re-inforce a solid training regime, Operation Cleft runs three to four major surgical outreach programs a year.  The aim of the surgical outreach program, is to take a team of qualified plastic surgeons to major cities outside Dhaka like Chittagong, Jessore or Sylhet. There we conduct surgical camps at which between 50 and 100 children are operated on. The team take a number of registrars with them for hands on training and the hospital at which the camp is scheduled, roster their registrars to act as surgical assistants. The training opportunity that these mini and major camps provides is invaluable to the medical profession in Bangladesh and ensures the expansion of plastic surgery as a future service available to the wider community.

Melbourne Team

Nirasha Silva
Fundraising Officer

Robyn Stokes
Volunteer