A MISSION FOR CATARACT FREE ODISHA

One person goes blind every five second, a child loses vision every minute and an estimated seven million people become visually handicapped each year in the world according to the world health organization. Nearly 90 per cent of the world’s blind people live in developing countries. Nearly half of the global burden of blindness is from India (Nine million approximately) Hence blindness is the major health problem of India.80% of the blindness is avoidable which is mainly because of cataract. Cataract is treatable and normal vision can be restored by surgery. Lions throughout the world are renowned to work for the prevention of convertible blindness and it is one of their major programme. Keeping this in view, Lions Club of Cuttack established Melvin Jones Lions Eye Hospital at Khalasi Lane, Buxi Bazar Cuttack to bring to the people of Orissa, the basic eye care services as well as necessary surgical treatment.

Free eye screening camps are conducted regularly even in the remote places of Orissa. The persons requiring cataract surgery are brought to the hospital by means of hospital transport and then they are taken back after necessary surgery. Theses surgeries are totally free of any charges for the patients where free food is also provided to the patients.

Our team visits various schools to carry out eye check up of students and provide power glasses free of charges wherever required besides treatment of other eye ailments.

Card Holders under BijuKrushakKalyanYojana (BKKY) falling under BPL are treated at our hospital without any payments. Till date we have performed1556 PhacoCataractsurgery besides other Miscellaneous surgery etc. to the BKKY card holders.

The OPD section was started in June 1998 and surgery from August 1999. Till 30th Sep’2017 patients to the tune of 500183 have been treated in OPD. Cataract surgery during this period is performed to the tune 45388 besides miscellaneous surgeries being 8029.

There are plans to establish Retina Section, Research Centre and Eye Bank in due course of time. Thanks goes to the members of Lions Club of Cuttack, LCIF & citizens of Cuttack for their contribution for establishment & running of this project. Until our slogan of Cataract Free Orissa is achieved, the members of Lions Club of Cuttack will continue their efforts to provide quality vision to the needy people of Odisha. Most of the services in this world need money but at our hospital money is not pre requisite for sight.