THE GIFT OF SIGHT
Close to 20,000 of all those who live in Rajasthan can’t see. Because of this reality, Relief Riders International began its Give The Gift of Sight program in 2006. With each $65 we received, RRI underwrote cataract eye surgery for a deserving villager. Relief Riders and contributors from around the world gave the gift of sight; forever changing the life of the recipient.
HISTORY
The inspiration to create Relief Riders International’s cataract eye surgery program came from our experiences with our general medical camps in Rajasthan, India. It was clear that many of our patients needed eye care. Our subsequent research into the problem of global blindness - and the all-too-preventable problem of blindness in rural India - prompted us to work with our medical team and Dr. V.K. Gupta to create temporary eye surgery clinics in Rajasthan.
The World Health Organization estimates that cataracts account for over half of all avoidable blindness in Africa and Asia. Of these regions, India bears the greatest burden, where the ratio of blindness to population is highest – there are approximately 15 million blind people in a total population of 1.8 billion people. And while some improvements in rural health have improved life expectancies, it has also aggravated the problem of cataracts, with a proportional increase in the backlog of cataract patients waiting to be treated. Although cataracts can be easily removed, surgical services in many developing countries are inadequate, inaccessible and too expensive for most of their rural population. In India, where it has been estimated that nine-tenths of the population live in small and scattered villages far removed from the conveniences of civilized life, getting treatment for cataracts can be especially difficult.
A cataract is a clouding of the lens in the eye that affects vision. The lens is a clear part of the eye that helps to focus light, or an image, on the retina. The retina is the light-sensitive tissue at the back of the eye. In a normal eye, light passes through the transparent lens to the retina. Once it reaches the retina, light is changed into nerve signals that are sent to the brain.The lens must be clear for the retina to receive a sharp image. If the lens is cloudy from a cataract, the image a person sees will be blurred. In cataract surgery, the eye’s clouded lens is removed, and the eye is implanted with an artificial intraocular lens (IOL).
HOW THE GIFT OF SIGHT WORKS
Relief Riders International has been able to implement programs with a minimum of bureaucracy and at low cost. We establish temporary eye surgery clinics in the villages we visit. Dr. Gupta and our medical team has transformed rural Public Health Centers (PHC) and Dharmshala into temporary eye surgery clinics and post-operative recuperation facilities.
Because our clinics are mobile, we are able to provide our services in very remote places and still keep overhead expenses at a minimum. Once the date for the eye surgery camp has been established, our team publicizes the camp to villagers through banners, pamphlets and word of mouth.
Villagers with eye problems are encouraged to come out and be screened to receive cataract surgery. Because of the high risk for infection in surgery of this type, government regulations require potential patients to pass three tests gauging their blood pressure, presence of diabetes, and albumen levels – before being admitted for surgery. Villagers eligible for surgery are then treated at the camp and attended by nurses the day following their surgery.
OUR ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Since 2006, we have treated 1900 villagers as outpatients. Unfortunately while all these patients did not qualify for the eye surgery - some because of diabetes, or high blood pressure - they did receive critical eye care and were either prescribed medicine, and given practical advice to manage whatever existing conditions they had.
We were able to successfully perform cataract eye surgery on the 294 patients who were eligible.