CBM India, Standard Chartered Bank collaborate to set up 44 vision centres in India

CBM India in partnership with Standard Chartered Bank on Wednesday commits to equipping 44 vision centres in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Uttar Pradesh to reduce avoidable blindness in these states.

According to a release, Standard Chartered Bank will be providing the fund for the project which aims to deliver primary eye care services by setting up of 44 disability-inclusive vision centres.

These inclusive vision centres situated in rural areas will cater to the most vulnerable communities, including people with disabilities. Each of these vision centres will be connected with secondary hospitals for referrals and further treatments, including surgeries, said the release.

"We are glad that in 2020, we are able to set-up these vision centres for the country, which is replicable and scalable, as well as the most appropriate model for eye screening...By the third year, we are aiming to attain sustainability with revenue from spectacles and nominal OPD fee. These vision centres also offer value-added services such as testing for diabetic and blood pressure. This helps in identifying people with eye care problem at an early stage thus avoiding people going blind unnecessarily. The revolving fund invested for such value-added services as well as for starting of optical units will ensure sustainability of these centres,” said Dr. Sara Varughese, Managing Trustee, CBM India.

As the prevalence of blindness is more in rural population, CBM has chosen to work with a mix of larger and smaller eye care service providers both larger and hospitals in order to provide quality services in remote hard to reach areas. The project aims to screen 395805 people, of which 163464 will be supported with refractive errors, and 33000 people will be referred for cataract surgeries, it added.

This partnership with CBM India will help create a long term and sustainable impact in the targeted communities and will further strengthen our effort to prevent avoidable blindness and ensure quality eye health services in India,” said Karuna Bhatia, Head of Sustainability, India, Standard Chartered Bank.