Interplast builds surgical capacity. We maintain 12 permanent Surgical Outreach Centers in nine countries. It’s a model of empowerment, sustainability and self-sufficiency that creates long-term, year-round surgical care where none previously existed.

"Children with severe injuries or cleft lips or palates are often ostracized from their communities and denied an education because of their appearance, speech impediments or disabilities. Reconstructive plastic surgery can provide the key to reintegrating these children into society."
— Dr. Shankar Man Rai, director of Interplast's Surgical Outreach Center in Nepal

Dr. Jorge Palacios, one of Interplast's first Surgical Outreach directors, has performed thousands of free reconstructive surgeries for impoverished children.

Interplast envisions a world in which no human being suffers physically or emotionally from a repairable congenital deformity or injury. To reach that vision, Interplast partners with volunteers and overseas medical colleagues to educate and empower local communities so that medical access is available year-round.

Interplast supports 12 permanent Surgical Outreach Centers in nine countries. In Bangladesh, Ecuador, Ghana (2), India (2), Nepal, Nicaragua, Peru (2), Sri Lanka and Zambia, patients can receive year-round care for disabling burns and clefts by our international partner surgeons.

Each Surgical Outreach Center receives funding, quality review, technological support and advanced medical training from Interplast. Innovative web-based technology allows outreach cases to be reviewed for quality and safety assurances by Interplast’s chief medical officer.

Although many of the outreach centers’ surgeons are based in urban areas, most of them travel regularly to more remote and underserved regions to care for patients in rural villages and towns. They often work in coordination with local hospitals and clinics, in order to effectively share resources and personnel.

The first Surgical Outreach Center was formed in 1999, when Dr. Rai, Interplast’s partner in Nepal, assembled a local team of medical professionals to provide medical services year-round. Over the years, Nepal’s Surgical Outreach Center has treated thousands of patients. In fact, 10 times more patients have been cared for than could have been reached through direct service trips to that location, demonstrating that Interplast can dramatically expand access by directing more resources to locally managed programs. The model has been so successful that more than 60 percent of Interplast surgeries are now performed by our partners in the developing world.

Focusing on sustainability and self-sufficiency—training local medical professionals and providing them with more resources as an alternative to service trips of volunteers from the West—has proved especially valuable.  As an example, Nepal’s recent political situation made it difficult for U.S. volunteer groups to enter the country.  Having trained Interplast-affiliated physicians in-country allowed Interplast to continue providing direct care to those who need it.

Through these kinds of strategic partnerships with international medical professionals, Interplast is creating systemic, long-term support for people with birth defects and disabling injuries in the developing world.

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