Impact Guru Foundation (IGF) has partnered with Pristyn Care to launch the initiative ‘Save the Sight’ campaign. As part of the initiative, IGF will raise funds on the crowdfunding platform ImpactGuru.com and it will be used to sponsor cataract surgeries for the underprivileged, the company claims.
The company also claimed that these surgeries will be performed by Pristyn Care’s expert ophthalmologists. In a press statement, the company said that ‘Save the Sight’ is an endeavor to restore the sight of over 2 million people who are awaiting cataract surgery but cannot afford it.
With approximately 8 million blind people, India has the largest blind population in the world. Meanwhile, Cataract is considered a significant contributor to this life-crippling ocular condition, with estimates attributing 50 to 80 percent of bilateral blindness cases in India to cataract.
Moreover, cataract is also believed to be the most significant cause of ‘avoidable blindness. As per recent statistics from the National Center of Biotechnology and Information (NCBI), over 3.8 million Indians annually contract cataract.
In June this year, the government started a special campaign to clear the backlog of at least 10 million cataract surgeries that was created in the past two years owing to the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to reports, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya has announced an addition of 61.58 lakh surgeries in the next three years.The goal of the program is to reduce the prevalence of blindness to 0.25% by 2025 from 1.4% in 2010.
The company claims that the partnership between IGF and Prisytn Care is a step in the right direction to support the government’s efforts.
“The treatment gap in India is huge – in some rural areas, there is often just one doctor per 30,000 people. With our strong presence across Tier-2, and Tier-3 cities, we aim to improve accessibility and better quality care under our healthcare for Bharat mission. We have empanelled a network of around 800+ hospitals and 200+ clinics which we operate across the country. With the ‘Save the Sight’ initiative in collaboration with Impact Guru Foundation, we aim to provide surgical care to the eligible beneficiaries from under-served communities who are suffering from cataract,” Harsimarbir Singh, co-founder of Pristyn Care said in a statement.
The patients are eligible for treatment under the following conditions:
- Anyone with a BPL card can register for the program
- The monthly income of a household should not exceed Rs. 20,000
- Patients should not be enrolled in any health schemes to register for the program
- Patients must not have any health insurance (group or individual) to register for this programme
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