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Ophthalmic facilities for Economically Challenged Community.
Rotary Club of Bharuch, RI District 3060, India.
Eye diseases are among the most easily overlooked medical problems in India, where primary healthcare infrastructure is not robust like other developed countries. With around 12 million blind people against 39 million globally, India is home to one-third of the world's blind population.
In 1999, WHO teamed up with the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) to launch Vision 2020: The Right to Sight campaign, with the mission to stamp out world blindness by 2020. In absolute numbers, people suffering from blindness have reduced from 12 million in 2006-07 to 4.8 million in 2019 in India as per data released by Health Ministry in Oct., 2019. However, cataract still remains to be the most common cause of blindness (66.2 per cent) followed by corneal blindness (7.4 per cent) that are avoidable.
Still falling short of WHO targets, the two big challenges that are adversely affecting eye care in India are inadequate facilities and lack of access. As 80 per cent of blindness is preventable, one can imagine the larger impact of timely, better eye care of society and economy. Nearly 10 million people can enter the mainstream of life resulting in adding many more millions to the labor market, as even care givers now can concentrate their full energies in economic activity. By curing and preventing blindness, India can dramatically improve its productivity and reduce the overall burden of healthcare on families as well as economy at large.
Demography of Bharuch:For following reasons the problem is more intricate and bigger for the catchment area of Bharuch which includes -
• Midway to Vadodara and Surat cities.
• On western side uptoDahej&Hansot Areas.
• On eastern side whole tribal belt including adjoining areas of Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh
People in this catchment have large section of tribal, illiterate and deprived population. Hence load of pending cataract and other illnesses are more than average in this part of Gujarat state.
The objective of the proposed project by Rotary Club of Bharuchis to equip and modernize Welfare Hospital Bharuch with new machines to provide good ophthalmic facilities to the economically challenged population at very subsidized rates.
Welfare Hospital Bharuch and research Centre is presently largest NGO run multispecialty hospital of Bharuch with a great goodwill. It has been regularly conducting Eye camps and Cataract surgery camps with financial aid of other organization and with technical and medical support of Eye institutes like Rotary Eye institute Navsari and other. Rotary Club of Bharuch has a vision to establish Ophthalmic facility at this hospital so that Cataract surgery with Phaco technique are made available to needy patients on regular ( day to day basis ) and patients can be treated at very affordable cost and if need be free. The Ophthalmic unit will be operated by qualified ophthalmologist Doctors, technicians and supported by trained nurses and shall operate six days a week. We have also planned for the capacity building training at Welfare hospital. Welfare hospital would be responsible for the day to day running of the Ophthalmic unit and adhering to the laws and regulations of the government.The project will be self-sufficient as Welfare Hospital Bharuch will be maintaining the equipments and running the project from their own operational funds and will charge minimal amount from the beneficiaries after the project the grant funds has been expended.
Results of the community need assessment has prioritized such advanced eye treatment at subsidized rates. The Welfare Hospital has committed to benefit the community with such advanced eye treatment at subsidized rates. This project shall be verified for its success and ability to meet the specified objectives at the end of every year
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