A team of doctors led by a Dubai-based Indian surgeon will travel to India next month to conduct free surgeries on children with cleft lips, besides an acid attack victim.

Up to 45 operations will be done in Indian villages over two days by five doctors.

Dubai-based Sanjay Parashar, 47, has been using his earnings from cosmetic surgery to treat needy villagers for free since 2008, The Nationalreported.

“I will always do reconstructive surgery for free because patients in India cannot afford it. It’s a good balance. Initially, we didn’t have funds so we went around for money, but once things settled down and I realized we could cover it, things are much easier to accomplish,” Parashar said.

“Since a major portion of our work in Dubai is cosmetic surgery, it’s our way of gathering resources to perform reconstructive surgery in India,” he said.

During his India trip, he will be accompanied by two plastic surgeons in Nagpur, a doctor from Australia and another specialist from Dubai.

According to the report, the patients will be identified in primary health centres and the doctors will travel up to 100 kilometres to remote villages.

Parashar said most villagers just live with their cleft lips because it can involve four operations, depending on the severity.

“They are left with a stigma because it affects their speech and eating,” he said.

The team will also operate on a 30-year-old housewife whose face and neck were disfigured in an acid attack two years ago.