Bestowing vision

As a part of the World Children Week and the Eye Care Week, a host of activities to raise funds for restoring vision and sight-saving surgeries have been organised. Aziz Haider reports.

It's a very queer contradiction indeed! Overseas, India is seen as a leader in ophthalmology. Indian hospitals, such as the L.V. Prasad Eye Institute (LVPEI) in Hyderabad, The Aravind Eye Hospital, Madurai, and Sankara Nethralaya, Chennai, are seen as models of eye care in the West. Yet India continues to have the highest percentage of cataract population in the world as well as high cataract prevalence rate. This information was brought to notice by Dr Steven Roy, Chief Executive Officer of Dr Shroff's Charity Eye Hospital (SCEH), while talking on the new paediatric ophthalmology wing in his hospital, courtesy Ronald McDonald House Charities and ORBIS International.
Prevention and control of blindness is one of India's compelling development challenges. Recognising the massive scale of blinding situation in the country, the Government of India launched the National Program for Control of Blindness (NPCB), with a goal of reducing the prevalence of blindness. Various multilateral and bilateral development agencies, including ORBIS International, extended their support to strengthen these blindness prevention initiatives.
But this was not enough considering the severity of the problem and the number of people inflicted with eye diseases. Taking a cue, perhaps, ORBIS International approached Ronald McDonald charity, which agreed to fund the entire programme in India.
As part of the programme, McDonald is celebrating the World Children Week from November 14 (the Children's Day in India) to November 20 (World children's Day instituted by UNICEF), dedicating it as the `Eye Care Week', with a host of activities to raise funds towards restoring vision as well as sight-saving surgeries — all this jointly with ORBIS and SCEH.
Informs Vikram Bakshi, Managing Director of Connaught Plaza Restaurants, promoters of McDonald's India, "Our area is to look for charities towards children. In this project, our role is to create awareness besides funding the project. There are certain type of blindness that we have to live with, but about 40 per cent of them can be cured if given timely diagnosis and treatment."
Not only among the poor but awareness is limited even in well-to-do circles. And Ronald, the local Indian mascot of McDonald, whose replicas can be seen outside all McDonald outlets, too has got busy creating this awareness. "He is not a clown," emphasises Bakshi. "You may call it edutainment. He is our icon through whom we have delivered our messaging."
A host of activities are planned for the week aiming to make a difference to the life of visually disadvantaged children. One such activity was the Children's painting competition held across all outlets of McDonald's in the National Capital Territory of Delhi in which about 5,000 children participated. The paintings screened by noted artists, Satish Gupta, Shobha Broota and Bulbul Sharma, 12 of which will be printed and sold as Season's greeting cards, proceeds from the sale of which will be set aside to restore vision by undertaking requisite surgeries for visually impaired and economically challenged children at the paediatric wing of SCEH. Eye screenings and paediatric counselling on eye care will also be provided across McDonald's restaurants all across Delhi by qualified doctors and optometrists (with the support of ORBIS and SCEH).
But the most everlasting contribution of this programme has been the paediatric ophthalmology wing at SCEH, where state-of-the-art equipment have been set up for the evaluation and rehabilitation of children with visual impairment or eye-related problems. SCEH has initiated another Outreach Programme at Alwar, Rajasthan. The clinic offers a complete basic eye examination including vision tests, slit lamp and indirect opthalmoscopic examinations. The patients who need surgery are then screened and transported to the hospital in Daryaganj for surgery.
After two nights in the hospital they are transported back by SCEH bus back to Alwar. Says K.P. Rajendran of ORBIS, whose organisation is actively involved with the project, "In developed countries, most children have a visual assessment at the pre-school age and again soon after enrolment in school. In India, only 40 per cent of children in primary school age attend school. The purpose of our camps is to reach the children who fall through the gaps and to train teachers to notice potential vision problems in their students." ORBIS has also stationed a DC10 at the Chennai airport for three weeks. This Flying Eye Hospital performs complicated surgeries within the aircraft itself.
"But the more significant contribution that it is sure to bring is in the field of training doctors in specialised and sub-specialty areas. Several Indian doctors witness operations performed by international experts, thus learning the processes and techniques involved in highly complex and sophisticated surgeries."
This programme is particularly beneficial because it saves on the cost incurred on sending these doctors for training abroad.
Worthwhile contribution indeed, that is sure to go a long way in eradicating or at least limiting eye blindness in India. One contributor who needs a special mention is Vikram Lal of Eicher Goodearth Ltd, the chief patron of SCEH since early 1990s, and who has put in over Rs 8 crore.
And thousands who had no resources to be able to see the colourful world around owe it to such philanthropic activities.