Surgical Atlas of Cleft Palate and Palatal Fistulae 2022

My first cleft workshop was in 2002 at Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Linkou, Taiwan, where I met Professor Noordhoff and leading cleft surgeons, including Professors Yu-Ray Chen, Philip Chen, and Lun-Jou Lo. Following the workshop, I stayed for an additional month to observe cleft surgeries.

On returning to Faisalabad, Pakistan, I helped establish three operating rooms at Punjab Medical College, Allied Hospital, which became functional by the end of 2002. In 2003, I founded CLAPP (Cleft Lip & Palate Association of Pakistan) to provide free cleft care to deserving patients, with early support from Smile Train.

After my transfer to Lahore in 2005, the cleft program expanded significantly. In 2008, we established a dedicated cleft center offering comprehensive services, including surgery, speech therapy, audiology, and orthodontics—entirely free of charge. The program became one of the busiest in the world, performing over 4,000 surgeries annually at its peak.

Since 2004, CLAPP has conducted 193 cleft missions across Pakistan and Afghanistan. To date, our team has performed more than 43,500 cleft surgeries. Since 2013, we have collaborated with Cleft-Children International (CCI), Zurich, and many patients described in my work have been supported through this partnership.