© Penelope Gan – All Rights Reserved – Kalimpong, West Bengal, INDIA

I have just returned from a Photography Show + Tell Session by Palani Mohan, organised by friends of mine who owns the Republik Studio here in Wangsa Maju, Kuala Lumpur.  Palani had photographed a similar looking person; espousing the same drabs – personality, aura and appearance. Sure, that drew my attention and brought a smile to my face, but that was not the pivotal point that attracted me. It connected the dots for me; first it was the elephant’s eye in Vanishing Giants that brought back recollection of the cow’s eye in The Motorcycle Diaries. Then this man…

cataract

Over 1.5% of India is blind. Of these 15 million, almost 10 million are blind due to cataract, and about 1 million are blind (vision less than 3/60) simply because they do not have access to spectacles. Another 1.5 million are affected by infection of the eye. 80% of these people live in rural India, with no access to eye care.

Despite the increase in service availability and heightened outreach screening efforts by groups such as LV Pasad Eye Institute that has put together a working pyramidal model of eye care delivery that has to date reached out to about 30 million rural and peri-urban Indians, blindness has not decreased and uptake of offered cataract surgery services is suboptimal.

Barriers to access cataract surgery services in India have been researched in several studies, citing financial reasons, distance, fear, lack of service awareness, lack of support, or other obligations. These barriers are not surprisingly more prevalent in the rural areas exacerbating social issues that includes loss of productivity, breakdown of interpersonal relationships, depressive manifestations and loss of self esteem, which leads to patients leading an isolated humiliating life.

Patients continuing to remain blind for years even after being diagnosed as operable is unfortunate because cataract surgery is one of the most cost effective health interventions known and most operated eye ailment.  Irrespective of the surgical technique, satisfaction gained from the visual rehabilitation after surgery is incomparable.

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