Two hundred fifty patients’ cataract surgery was done free of cost in a 3-day free cataract surgery camp held a Sewa Sadan Eye Hospital from 2 – 4 September 2022. The camp was supported by Philanthropist Smt Indu Gajwani, founder chairperson of the Long Island Indo-American Lions Club and her spouse, Shri Shyam Gajwani.
The camp was a collaborative effort of Sewa Sadan Eye Hospital, Jeev Sewa Sansthan, and Long Island Indo-American Lions Club.Smt Indu Gajwani, founder chairperson of the Long Island Indo-American Lions Club and Shri Shyam Gajwani were personally present to enquire about the health of the patients post-surgery and took special care to serve them food.
Shri Mahesh Dayaramani, Secretary Jeev Sewa Sansthan welcomed the philanthropist couple to the hospital. He apprised them that SSEH to date had performed 2.05 lakh surgeries. Shri Dayaramani further added that SSEH’s service towards cataract surgeries is a service beyond restoring sight and towards human development in society as a visually impaired person can be an economic burden. On this occasion, office bearers of SSEH Col. Dr. Madan Deshpande, Awataramaniji, Kushal Dharmani, Bharti Janiyani and Anusha Pathak were also present.
The patients were from nearby towns of Bhopal – Sohagpur, Makhan Nagar, Akodia, Berchha, and Vidisha, Madhya Pradesh.
Nisha Solanki belongs to a large family of two brothers and four sisters (of whom 3 are married). Both her brothers and elder sister attend school. Nisha’s father is mentally challenged. The responsibility of earning is on the mother, who is a daily wage farm labourer and grandmother, who tends to her goats. Two earing members for a family of ten.
Blindness in children leads to deep impact on psychological, emotional, and socioeconomic growth to the family. A child with blindness is more likely to have delays in developmental milestones, to be more frequently hospitalized, and die during childhood than a sighted child. Such severe vision loss also adversely effects the educational activities, orientation, and mobility from the early stage of life resulting in lack of employment privilege. These differential characteristics between a sighted and non-sighted child is more obvious in developing countries. Moreover, the disability adjusted life years (DALY) loss in a blind child is far more than that of adults with blindness.