* 1 in every 100 Indians is turning blind
* 80% of blindness can be avoided if given timely treatment
But people in villages do not have access to basic eye care; often the nearest eye doctors or eye hospitals are 50 to 100 km away
Result is undertected & untreated eye diseases & growing blindness amongst villagers
Perspective:
Vision Centre -
> a permanent primary eye care facility in a village
> eye care services provided, on the spot, to villagers, by trained optometrists/vision technicians
> Connected through tele-ophthalmology to base hospital in Delhi, making secondary & tertiary level eye care accessible to patients (> Click to see Tele-ophtahlmology in Action)
> Referral to satellite hospitals, if required
Caters to about 40,000 underserved needy villages... around the Vision Centre with comprehensive eye care service
Advantages:
Provides good quality free eye care to disadvantaged rural community
Beneficiaries pay only token registration fee of Rs 20 to 30. Check-up/screening & surgeries, if needed, done free of cost
Patients can buy spectacles, if needed, at reasonable prices
Charitable "doorstep eye care services" for the underserved & needy