Saksham, on a mission to give sight to the blind

Bengaluru: India is home to the world’s largest visually impaired population at over 50 lakhs (according to the 2011 census). The country also tops the chart for the largest population of corneal blind in the world. Though many of these visually impaired people can be helped with vision, taboos surrounding organ donation has made the task herculean and left these disabled people behind.

But a few individuals, organisations, NGOs and voluntary groups are leading the way in bringing them into the mainstream. One such NGO is Samadrishti, Kshamata Vikas Evam Anusandhan Mandal (Saksham), a charitable organisation which has its reach across the country. It believes that the disabled people are not a burden, but an asset to the country. Though presently dedicated to the service of visually impaired, Saksham is committed to people with other disabilities, environment, health and social issues.

In Karnataka, Saksham has launched Cornea Andhatv Mukt Bharat Abhiram (CAMBA) – Avoidable Blindness Free Villages (ABFV), which provides access to high-quality preventive measures and affordable treatment for corneal blindness and other avoidable causes of visual impairment and blindness to all people. The project, launched in March 2016, covers the entire country and helps all visually impaired people, no matter where they live, what they do and what their age and gender is.

Dr Sudheera Pai K.L., Saksham, Karnataka president, told Deccan Chronicle, “Our main goal is to make villages across the country free of avoidable blindness. We diagnose the enlisted people for corneal opacity to analyse the possibility of relief through eye donation. We have networked with Sight Keepers (Netra Rakshak) at the grassroots level for the success of the project.”

CAMBA–ABFV Phase 1 has started in Hoskote, Devanahalli, Doddaballapura and Nelamangala taluks in Bengaluru Rural District. “We conduct surveys in 100 villages reaching every home and recording the number of people suffering from any avoidable blindness, corneal issues, cataract, pterygium, glaucoma, squint, uncorrected refractive errors etc.,” he said.

Saksham General Secretary Vasantha Madhav said, “Our organisation not only propagates the importance of eye donation but also manages the donation of corneas through eye banks and grafting. There has been a remarkable increase in the number of corneal transplants. This entire year we have conducted cornea donation awareness programmes in many states. The eye should become a national asset and eye donation a national tradition.”