‘Vision Delhi’ Eye Care Project’s Second Phase Launched in East Delhi

Primary Eye Care (PEC) Centre inaugurated at Trilokpuri in East Delhi marking the second phase of ‘Vision Delhi’ project partnered by AIIMS, New Delhi

New Delhi, Delhi, India, Wednesday, February 20, 2013 — (Business Wire India) — Sightsavers in association with Dr. R.P. Centre for Ophthalmic Sciences, AIIMS, New Delhi has jointly launched the second phase of the Vision Delhi programme in East Delhi’s Trilokpuri locality on 19th February 2013. Sightsavers is an international development organization working in the realm of eye care.

The project, in collaboration with Dr. R.P.Centre for Ophthalmic Sciences, AIIMS, New Delhi is significant for its focus on the healthcare issues of urban poor– one of the most neglected segments, particularly in the eye care segment.

Marking the launch of the programme in East Delhi, Ms. Sujaya Krishnan, Joint Secretary and Head of National Program for Control of Blindness, Ministry of Health, Government of India, inaugurated the Primary Eye Care Centre (PEC) at the AIIMS Rotary Eye Hospital in the area.

Speaking on the occasion, Ms Krishnan called for greater convergence of initiatives in accelerating the eye care programmes meant for different sections of the urban population. The first phase of the project had a successful launch in South Delhi last year.

Targets

‘Vision Delhi’ aims to reach one million people from various slum clusters of East and West Delhi through 5 PEC clinics that will work on a daily basis. It is hoped that by the end of the project, about 90,000 people will be screened for any eye health related issues, of which nearly 60,000 people will be refracted. This project aims to extend quality cataract surgeries to 4500 people above the age of 40 in a period of 3 years.

Speaking on the occasion, Elizabeth Kurian, CEO, Sightsavers India said, “As we enter the third phase of the Vision Delhi project we are looking for sustainability of the project. By virtue of partnering with RPC, which is the apex body at the national level, we have ensured that the project elements are sustained beyond the project life and scaling up of such interventions in other cities where similar needs exist.”

Expansion

The project is set to launch its next phase in the slums of West Delhi with a goal of ‘community to have sustained access to quality and affordable eye care’. The project will demonstrate its scalable and cost effective approach by contributing to the unmet needs for quality eye care services in urban slums of Delhi to mitigate the problem of refractive error, especially in children.

“The project aims to ‘strengthen primary eye care services in Delhi slums with increased uptake of refractive error services for communities by the year 2015’ and ‘establish convergence among the Government’s Health and Education Departments. “The refractive error issues of children are going to be tackled by adopting a system strengthening approach”, added Elizabeth Kurien.

The function was addressed by many other dignitaries including Dr. Rajvardhan Azad, Chief of RPC and Caroline Harper, Global Chief of Sightsavers International.

About Sightsavers:

Sightsavers is a global development organization working to eliminate avoidable blindness ensuring that people who are irreversibly blind receive the support they need to lead lives of independence and dignity. Sightsavers has been working in India since 1966 on eye health and has reached out to over 35 million people.

Today, Sightsavers partners with more than 100 organisations across 17 states in India bringing eye healthcare, educational support, counseling, training and leadership development to visually impaired people in some of the least served areas of the country. Sightsavers believes in promoting indigenous technologies in eye health care enabling a wider reach of health services in India. For more information log on to www.sightsaversindia.in.

 

CONTACT DETAILS
Shruti Naik, Sightsavers, +91 (22) 28839789 / 28810876, snaik@sightsavers.org