‘Smile Maker’ passes away

Cleft surgeon Hirji S. Adenwalla brought a smile to more than 16,000 children

Eminent cleft lip and palate surgeon Hirji S. Adenwalla, fondly called ‘Smile Maker’, passed away at a Coimbatore hospital on Wednesday. He was 90.

Head of the Charles Pinto Cleft Centre at Jubilee Mission Hospital, Thrissur, Dr. Adenwalla had brought a smile on the faces of more than 16,000 children in his six-decade-long career. Under his leadership, the cleft centre became one of India’s leading comprehensive cleft-training centres, which attracts medical students from all over the country.

After his medical education from Bombay, Dr. Adenwalla, who was interested in social service, joined Jubilee Mission Hospital, a small hospital that offered rudimentary treatment, in 1958.

After a few years of service at Jubilee Mission, Dr. Adenwalla started focussing on cleft surgery, which he continued until a few months ago, recalled Fr. Francis Alappatt, former director of the hospital.

The more cases he attended, the more patients started coming to the hospital. The nonagenarian surgeon conducted his last surgery in December 2019.

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Dr. Adenwalla was a recipient of the Joseph G. McCarthy Award for Cleft Surgery, regarded as the Nobel prize of cleft surgery. A few years ago, CNN produced a documentary on his work.

Dr. Adenwalla was a partner of the Smile Train Project, a U.S.-registered not-for-profit company that concentrated on cleft surgery.