<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=510 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top width=510 height=20>http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/may82006/city201217200657.asp
Project Drishti sets eye on urban poor
</TD></TR><TR><TD height=5></TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top height=20>DH News Service Bangalore:
</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>Joseph (41) a resident of Munireddy Palya realised he had a blurring vision for the last three months. Even as he was contemplating on visiting a doctor but dreaded the hefty fee, an announcement of a free eye camp caught his attention. On Sunday, Joseph was one of the 1,500 odd patients awaiting his turn to be screened for cataract at the mega free eye check-up and operation camp, organised by Mahaveer Eye Hospital, under its five-year-old Project Drishti at the Government Urdu Model Primary School, JC Nagar.
Every fifth person below 35 years in Bangalore suffers from diabetes. While diabetes related blindness is on the rise and is rampant among the middle-class is a fact that has alarmed the doctors. ?Despite the national blindness elimination programme for the last 30 years, India has had an alarming increase in the blind population from 10 million to 12 million over the last decade. This calls for a concerted effort by both the Indian government and the voluntary organisations to identify, treat and manage patients at every level. We, along with four NGOs have operated upon 50,000 patients from across nine districts including Bangalore rural, Urban, Tumkur, Kolar, Mandya, Shimoga and Hassan free of cost,? said Dr Narpat Solanki, medical director of MEH.
Inaugurating the eye camp organised on the first death anniversary of industrialist and AICC member S M Jain, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president Mallikarjuna Kharge said, ?The government alone cannot reach out to the masses. The voluntary organisations can attract larger crowd and conduct health camps. However, we now need to widen our approach to tackle emerging diseases like Chikungunya, which has affected five lakh people in the state.? Kharge, along with local MLA Roshan Baig distributed artificial limbs to beneficiaries identified by the Karnataka Marwari Youth Federation, on the occasion.
Project Drishti sets eye on urban poor
</TD></TR><TR><TD height=5></TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top height=20>DH News Service Bangalore:
</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>Joseph (41) a resident of Munireddy Palya realised he had a blurring vision for the last three months. Even as he was contemplating on visiting a doctor but dreaded the hefty fee, an announcement of a free eye camp caught his attention. On Sunday, Joseph was one of the 1,500 odd patients awaiting his turn to be screened for cataract at the mega free eye check-up and operation camp, organised by Mahaveer Eye Hospital, under its five-year-old Project Drishti at the Government Urdu Model Primary School, JC Nagar.
Every fifth person below 35 years in Bangalore suffers from diabetes. While diabetes related blindness is on the rise and is rampant among the middle-class is a fact that has alarmed the doctors. ?Despite the national blindness elimination programme for the last 30 years, India has had an alarming increase in the blind population from 10 million to 12 million over the last decade. This calls for a concerted effort by both the Indian government and the voluntary organisations to identify, treat and manage patients at every level. We, along with four NGOs have operated upon 50,000 patients from across nine districts including Bangalore rural, Urban, Tumkur, Kolar, Mandya, Shimoga and Hassan free of cost,? said Dr Narpat Solanki, medical director of MEH.
Inaugurating the eye camp organised on the first death anniversary of industrialist and AICC member S M Jain, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president Mallikarjuna Kharge said, ?The government alone cannot reach out to the masses. The voluntary organisations can attract larger crowd and conduct health camps. However, we now need to widen our approach to tackle emerging diseases like Chikungunya, which has affected five lakh people in the state.? Kharge, along with local MLA Roshan Baig distributed artificial limbs to beneficiaries identified by the Karnataka Marwari Youth Federation, on the occasion.