Dhrishti Daan / The Gift of Sight
GiveIndia Campaign Link: https://fundraisers.giveindia.org/nonprofits/kalyanam-karoti
The Issue
According to the National Blindness and Visual Impairment Survey India 2015-19, cataract is the leading cause of blindness in people above 50 years. Amongst the 1.3 billion population in India, an estimated 47,99,274 persons are blind and 42,17,299 of these are over 50 years. The World Health Organization’s initiative “The Vision 2020: The right to sight″ is expected to decrease the blindness by 25% but at the same time the proportion of the aged has also increased significantly in the country. The absolute number of cataract blind is expected to increase to 8.25 million in 2020. Also, cataract presents an enormous problem in India not only in terms of human morbidity but also in terms of economic loss and social burden, as a visually handicapped person needs assistance for everyday living.
The Action
Cataract, the principal cause of blindness in India, is more pronounced amongst illiterate, predominantly in the rural population where the barrier to access treatment is huge due to financial constraints and the inconvenience of family member accompanying the patient. However, it’s a condition that can be reversed with a 15-minute cataract surgery. In the last four decades, Kalyanam Karoti has provided 2,18,367 sight saving surgeries, reaching out to millions of visually impaired people amongst the most disadvantaged populations. Our initiative is to provide the modern extracapsular cataract extraction with intra-ocular lens implantation for free at Deenbandhu Eye Hospital, Ayodhya. It’s an initiative that not only provides these sight saving surgeries free of cost, it also facilitates free meals and accommodations for the patients and their caregivers during the tenure of hospitalisation at Deenbandhu Eye Hospital, Ayodhya.
The Impact
A timely medical intervention such as medication or routine check-up for eye infections can prevent decades of blindness and suffering and a sight saving surgery such as cataract surgery can create an immediate and lasting impact. These surgeries not only restore sight instantly, it also frees the hand of a relative or child providing assistance to the visually impaired. By restoring the vision, we can free this hand to go to school or send an adult back to work, leading an entire community to have a chance at a better future.
This campaign is targeted to raise a fund of Rs 750,000 to sponsor a week of free sight saving surgeries for 500 visually impaired people from underprivileged society.
Available Donation Options
₹1,500 – Sponsor 1 operation.
₹15,000 – Sponsor 10 operations.
₹1,50,000 – Sponsor 100 operations.