Sharad Kumar Dicksheet

Mention the name of Sharad Kumar Dicksheet to Lakshmi, the response would be an incoherent mumble. For she is barely six months old. May be, ten years later, if you were to tell her the same name, you are sure to see tears welling up in her eyes and hear an emotion-choked voice, as she would gesture towards a framed photo of the plastic surgeon hanging on the wall.

Six months ago, when Lakshmi came into the world, she was confronted with a gloomy future. She was born with cleft lip---her thick upper lip curled up to merge with her nose, exposing her teeth that were peeping out of a permanently open mouth. Being ignorant and a poor farmer, her father hailing from Bandepalli mandal in Vizianagaram district had no hopes to see his daughter growing up to be anything but beautiful.

The ugly scar that her birth had seared into his heart will be his permanent companion---that was what he thought, until he read about a free plastic surgery camp being conducted by Dr. Dicksheet in Visakhapatnam recently in association with the IIM Alumni-Hyderabad chapter and CDR Hospitals.

That day when he attended the camp would not only change their live, but, more importantly, ink a bright future for Lakshmi. Mumbling a prayer, he watched his daughter being wheeled into the operation theatre of CDR Hospital, where the camp was held. And 15 minutes later, she came out with a bandaged mouth. And when the bandage was removed a little later, lo and behold, he could see Lakshmi having the cleft lip any longer! For the first time since she was born, the father, this time eyes filled with tears of joy, was seen telling his wife: ''Our daughter is beautiful.''

Like Lakshmi and her parents, there are tens of thousands of people who revere Dr. Dicksheet, a five-time Nobel Prize nominee, as God. For what he has done to their lives, only God could have done.

Indeed, he lights up their faces and illuminates their lives. No metaphor, no hyperbole, this is what Dr. Dicksheet does to those with congenital and other facial deformities, bringing the benign

smile to those faces.

Each surgery is a life-changing event as those infants who would have been killed or abandoned by their parents or died unable to suckle milk and young boys or girls who would have been unmarriageable or unable to work now see a difference altogether, thanks to him.

He has conducted nearly 70,000 surgeries to date to correct cleft lip, pallet, squint eyes, ptosis and other facial deformities. Since the inception of the India project by Dr. Dicksheet in 1968, there was apprehension as he was totally unknown, and very few people turned up at those camps. Things changed after a few camps and the number of children undergoing surgery multiplied. He also faced resistance from local plastic surgeons who later realised his motto. Today Government-run hospitals and other corporate hospitals instinctively provide free space for the conduct of his camps.

When members of the Hyderabad chapter of the IIM Alumni called on the then Governor, C. Rangarajan, requesting him to address their meeting, he advised them to hold a meeting with the public and for a social cause.

The Inspector-General of Police (computer services) and chairman of this project, S.V. Ramana Murthy, says: ''As cardiac, cancer and other operations are time consuming and require hospitalisation for a number of days, we started these plastic surgery camps after coming to know about Dr. Dicksheet's India Project Inc.

The first camp in Andhra Pradesh was held in Hyderabad in February 2000 for five-and-half days. The camp was inaugurated by then Director-General of Police, H.J. Dora, and the concluding ceremony was attended by Dr. Rangarajan.

The number of cases rectified during these camps in Hyderabad was 435 in 2000, 416 in 2001, 531 in 2002 and 670 in this month's camp. When Dr. Dicksheet wanted to extend these camps for other districts, Mr. Ramana Murthy, who belongs to Vizag, took the initiative to organise these camps in memory of his parents, and in 2001 the first camp was held in which 170 surgeries were performed to rectify various deformities. In 2002, he performed 231 operations and this month 400 surgeries.

Rambabu who came for a general checkup for ptosis (half eye closed) had no time to inform his family about the operation and was operated upon immediately and was advised bed rest for two hours after which he could return home and meet his family as a transformed person.

Krishna Rao, an electrician from Allipuram, who attended the camp for the second time for Dab (dermal abrasions) as it was operated upon in two stages.

Govind Rao of Srikakulam, who was suffering from cleft lip, was also a happy person after his facial defect was rectified.

Saroja Rao, a first year bio-tech student who was operated upon for ptosis, was all praise for Dr Dicksheet.

Ten-year-old Srikant attended the camp for the second time for Dab. His father, a muncipal school teacher, says that these camps must be encouraged they are is a service to humanity.

Dr Dicksheet, says it takes only 15-20 minutes to operate upon cleft lip, 5-7 minutes for squint, 7 to 10 minutes for ptosis and 1 to 2 minutes for Dab.

The plastic surgeon has a number of awards to his credit which include NRI World-Merril Lynch NRI of the Year 2001 (Dubai 2002), Kellog's Hannah Neil World of Children Award (US 2001), World Congress of Cosmetic Surgery Life Time Achievement Award (Mumbai 2001), Padma Sri (2001), Van Guards Award (1996) and American Society of Aesthetic Surgery Humanitarian Service Award (New York 1977).

His camps are held from October to April every year in Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Karnataka and AP.

Despite his grave illness during the recent camp Dr. Dicksheet conducted the free surgery camps from a wheel-chair. He had undergone triple bypass surgery, besides getting operated on for larynx cancer.

A septuagenarian, Dr. Dicksheet has established a trust to continue his work forever. ''After I am gone, the Plastic Surgery Educational Foundation of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons will receive a portion of the assets from my trust to continue his work,'' he says and added ''Overwhelmed by the public response, I intend conducting a camp every year on the same dates.''