Support the nutrition of poor cataract surgery patients by Sankara Eye Hospital, Pammal

This financial year beginning was a challenging one for all of us due to COVID 19 pandemic.

The Government has suspended the outreach eye screening camps from 24th March 2020 due to the COVID 19 pandemic.

During the last 9 months from April to December 2020, the Hospital has conducted 5 outreach camps and screened 143 persons. The Hospital has performed 141 free, 1283 paying, 594 subsidized cataract surgeries. The Hospital has also performed 159 specialty surgeries.

Case Study of Smt K Kasthuri – MRD No.517338

Smt Kasthuri, W/o Sri Kannaiah Babu aged 71 years resides at No.4, Eighth Street, Balaji Nagar, Anakaputhur, Chennai, Tamil Nadu. She is a homemaker.

Over past two years, she has been suffering from blurred vision on both her eyes. She can see only the brightness of light. As her family could not afford for the surgery, she was waiting for an opportunity to get this done free of cost. Finally, she came to our Hospital on 8th December 2020 and diagnosed matured cataract on both eyes. She was advised to undergo cataract surgery on left eye, initially. She was advised to admit on the same day.

The routine health check-ups were done on 8th December and found to be fit for the surgery. The Small Incision Cataract Surgery with Intra Ocular Lens on left eye was performed on 9th December 2020 successfully. She was provided with medicines, accommodation, food & nursing care during her stay, all absolutely free of cost. She was discharged on the next day with good post-operative vision. She underwent two reviews after surgery, the first at after one week and the final one after 30 days. Her vision at the second review was 6/6.

The restoration of eye sight has brought new confidence. After the second follow up she started going for her work, as well managing the day-to-day activities. She is happy and thankful for the support received.

Nutrition for patients

Smt Dhanalakshmi W/o Sri Subramani aged 55 years resides at Samanthipuram Village, Gudipal Mandal, Chittoor district, Andhra Pradesh. She is doing dairy farm business at home. Over six months, she has been suffering from blurred vision on her Left Eye. Her vision was worsening day-by-day and she was unable to concentrate in the business. Her mother underwent cataract surgery earlier and having good vision. As per her mother’s advice, she immediately attended our eye screening camp at Chittoor on 29th December 2019. After thorough examination by Ophthalmologist, she was informed of having mature cataract in her left eye. She immediately gave her consent to undergo the surgery and was taken to the base hospital the same day. The routine health check-ups were done, she was found to be fit for the surgery. She was admitted on the same day. The Small Incision Cataract Surgery with Intra Ocular Lens in Left Eye was performed on 30th December 2019 successfully. She was provided with medicines, accommodation, food & nursing care during her stay, all absolutely free of cost. She was discharged on the next day with good post-operative vision and dropped back home. Dhanalakshmi & her family is happy now that Sankara Eye Hospital Pammal made a difference in her life – that too totally free of cost. She is now confident as she longer has to depend on others to manage the household activities. She greatly appreciates the help extended. During the last 6 months from 1st October 2019 to 31st March 2020, the Hospital has conducted 237 outreach camps and screened 13224 persons. The Hospital has performed 3464 free, 1425 paying, 754 subsidized cataract surgeries. The Hospital has also performed 307 specialty surgeries.

Eye donation Motivators Awards being conducted

Program Update

Sankara Eye Hospital, Pammal has been conducting rural outreach eye screening camps in around 1200 villages of Kanchipuram & Thiruvallur districts of Tamil Nadu and Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh. Our Branch Hospital at Samarjhola, Odisha conducts similar camps in Ganjam District which covers 3226 villages

So far the hospitals have performed over 2.89 lakhs surgeries of which over 85% of the patients are rural poor. The success of the Hospital in this endeavor could happen only because of the untiring support of the village volunteers.

We are happy to inform that the hospitals have performed 4482 free cataract surgeries between January and March 2019.

Apart from the surgery, during their stay in the hospital, we take care of their nutrition needs. Many of the patients suffer from non-communicable diseases like hypertension, diabetes etc which need special dietary retrictions. We identify such patients with a unique dress colour and meals for such people are specially tailored for their condition. In the case of diabetics, even the tea served is without sugar. For all patients, the food served is of nutrional value with a healthy balance of vegetables, proteins and cereals.

Story from the field

Malliga (MRD No.453971) aged 57 years residing in Chettikulam Street, Sholingar, Vellore district had been experiencing blurred vision for over six months. Malliga and her husband are farmers. They have their own land for cultivation. Due to her poor economic condition, she avoided visiting hospital. Her son came to know about the free eye screening camp organized by Sankara Eye Hospital at Sholingar on 2nd September 2018. She attended the camp along with her son where she was diagnosed with Cataract and advised to undergo surgery in her right eye. She was brought to the base hospital at Pammal.

After the routine health check-ups, the cataract surgery with Intraocular Lens was performed on 3rd September. She was provided with food, accommodation, surgery and medication free of cost. She was discharged on the next day with required counselling and medication and dropped back to their village.

The restoration of eye sight has brought new confidence to Malliga as she longer has to depend on others to manage the household activities, as well, the cultivation. She greatly appreciates the help provided to her through this eye care programme. She has become an ambassador to spread the message about our eye care programme.

What is the expected total number of beneficiaries in this program for FY18-19?	13000
What is the number of beneficiaries/ benefits provided in this program, Year-To-Date	12010
Village/City/State where project is located	Pammal, Chennai, Kanchipuram District, Tamil Nadu and Samarjhola, Ganjam District, Odisha
Total Budget for the project for FY18-19	3761000
Total Expenses for the project YTD	3079646