'IndiCleft,' a web-based tool that helps record data of patients suffering from cleft lip or cleft palate, both online and offline, was launched by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on February 14.

The tool, launched in collaboration with the All India Institutes of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), is a robust web-based recording system developed with help of the National Informatics Centre (NIC) with enhanced server space and improved capabilities.

"IndiCleft is a comprehensive aid for cleft patients covering important components broadly grouped under 10 headings -- demographic, socioeconomic, maternal history, surgical history, dental history, surgical and post-surgical evaluation, ENT evaluation, speech assessment, genetic evaluation and lastly, dental evaluation," said O.P. Kharbanda, chief of the Centre for Dental Education and Research (CDER), AIIMS.

Cleft lip or cleft palate is a condition when the two sides of the lip do not fuse together in unborn baby. It affects weight, speech and chewing habit of a child and leads to abnormal arrangement of teeth, poor jaw relations and facial aesthetic.

It constitutes nearly one-third of all congenital malformations of the craniofacial region with an average worldwide incidence of 1 in 700. Its incidence among the Asian population is reported to be around 1.7 per 1,000 live births or higher. In India, it is estimated that approximately 35,000 children are born with cleft lip every year.