Project Drishti: Caring for the needy

bangalore: it's a spartan office. but then, no one here has the time or interest to look around and see if the interiors are trendy. the people here are on a mission to help those whose vision has been affected by cataract. working under the umbrella of project drishti, this group of doctors and volunteers are seriously trying to make a difference. at the head of the project is eye surgeon dr narpat solanki who has converted the mahaveer eye hospital in gandhinagar as a destination for patients from rural areas who do not have access to quality and cheap eye care.in fact, project drishti which has been taken up by the j.g. solanki trust ensures that these poor receive all facilities -- travel, stay, food and medical care -- free of cost. says dr solanki, ``we want to create cataract-free zones. for this we have started with villages in two areas -- gauribidanur and kanakapura __ where we go out periodically to organise camps. at the camps the initial diagnosis is made and we then bring them over to bangalore for the final treatment.'' dr solanki added, ``about 90 per cent of the world's blind make developing countries like india their home. if significant efforts are made, more than 70 per cent of them could be helped. it has been seen that 60 per cent of all blindness worldwide is caused by cataract, childhood eye disease, trachoma and onchocerciasis. we are attempting to make a difference in one major area -- cataract.'' initially, some surgeries were carried out in the free eye camps held under the auspices of project drishti. ``but we need to use faster and better technology for which we bring in the patients to our centre here and operate on them. just because they are being treated free, does not mean that they should not get the benefits of the most modern facilities. we also put in intraocular lenses for these patients,'' explains dr solanki. selfless donations have kept the project running for all these months. ``it's simple. for 20 free surgeries, all we need is rs 10,000. for 50 free operations, a donation of rs 25,000 is helpful. to our good luck, so far many philanthropists and organisations have come forward with donations to help us in our endeavour,'' dr solanki says. (for further details contact project drishti, no. 25, 1st floor, 2nd cross, gandhinagar, near ram mandir. phone: 2260794/ 2094040).