Third phase of eye camp in Maoist-hit areas begins

Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh Sunday inaugurated the third phase of the mega eye camp in Jharkhand's Maoist-hit areas at Giriwar High School of Palamu district.

The eye camp initiative is a special one initiated by Jairam Ramesh, to bring better eye care facilities to rural people living in Maoist-hit areas.

This camp is organised by the Kashyap Memorial Eye Bank (KMEB), a charitable unit of Kashyap Memorial Eye Hospitals.

Inaugurating the eye camp, Ramesh said: "For the first time, I have witnessed such a big camp which was organised after surveying 2,700 schools across the district."

Eye camps were organised last year at Manoharpur in Saranda forest area and Latehar in Saryu forest area with the help of the Kashyap Memorial Eye Bank.

Bharti Kashyap, medical director and chief executive officer of KMEB, said: "The mega eye camp was organised in the school as part of efforts to obtain the target of reducing blindness rate in the country from 0.8 percent at present to 0.3 percent. For Jharkhand, the blindness rate at present is 1.4 percent. The programme was a milestone, aimed at reducing the blindness rate in the state to at least 0.8 percent, the current national average."