Drishti Rath for war on preventable blindness

Gurgaon, known more for its glitzy malls and swanky corporate offices of MNCs finally has something to showcase its compassionate side. Today Gurgaon unveiled a ray of hope for its poor residing in 100 Kms radius in the form of Drishtirath, a fully equipped mobile primary eye care and spectacle dispensing unit. Mrs Nidhi B Singh, Delhi Head of mother NGO, Concern India Foundation, Mr. Rajiv Pradhan, Head, Tej Kohli Foundation, Dr. T N Ahooja, president, Niramaya, Mr. Ashok Mahindru, Chairman Advance group. The campaign got off an auspicious start with blessings of Swami Dharamdev, a spiritual and social leader with a strong following in south Haryana.

This gives a rousing start to eye donation fortnight which kicked off on August 25th.

To take the fight against preventable blindness to the far flung, interior and underserved areas, Concern India Foundation pitched in with nearly Rs 15 Lakh for a customized mini bus with all necessary equipment for providing primary eye care. According to Nidhi B Singh, Delhi Head, CIF, this would be a first ever such initiative in Northern India and may reach out to about 20000 rural poor annually.

Mr. Tej Kohli has stepped in to sponsor all the operating costs of the Project. Rajiv Pradhan, Head, Tej Kohli Foundation (TKF) estimated that it will costs nearly Rs 1 lakh per month to begin with, to provide primary eye care, basic medicines and spectacles to people below poverty line. He expects grant from TKF to go up once free cataract surgeries are also added to this project.

The fully equipped mobile refraction van, christened ‘Drishtirath’ by Dr T N Ahooja, President, Niramaya, will carry all instruments necessary to carry out a comprehensive eye examination and dispense spectacles in a matter of a few hours at the door step of rural poor.

Guest present at launch lauded the services provided by Niramaya and its President Dr T N Ahooja for gurgaon region and vowed to support the campaign to reach rural poor in ineriior areas through Drishtirath.

Mr. Ashok Mahindru, Chairman, Advance group laid out an ambitious target of 5000 annual eye donation from Gurgaon region. Dr Hitendra Ahooja, Medical Director, Niramaya hopes that other large corporate in Gurgaon would join the war against preventable blindness and some day Gurgaon would have his dream project, a world class tertiary eye care institute providing community eye care for the rural and urban poor.