HelpMeSee to invest $100 mn on drive against cataract in India

Non-profit social enterprise HelpMeSee is planning to invest up to USD 100 million (over Rs 660 crore) in its bid to make 50 more districts in India cataract free by 2020.
The districts that the organisation is looking to make cataract free are Raigadh, Jalgaon in Maharashtra, Bidar in Karnataka, Mathura, Moradabad, Sitapur, Hardoi in UP, Purnia, Sitamarhi and Banka in Bihar among others, HelpMeSee said.
It has already made five districts cataract backlog free. These are Banda, Chitrakoot and Hamirpur in UP, Satna and Panna in Madhya Pradesh.
"Making 50 districts in India cataract free will require an investment of USD 100 million. We will take various initiatives such as hosting of concerts in India and abroad and holding meetings with various corporates to raise funds," HelpMeSee President and CEO Jacob Mohan Thazhathu told PTI.

Since 2012, the campaign has supported over 2.48 lakh surgeries through 242 surgeon partners across India, Nepal, China, Vietnam, Madagascar, Togo, Sierra Leone, and Peru, HelpMeSee said.
Through partnerships with hundreds of surgeons in nearly a dozen countries, along with cutting-edge technology and training, we are building a sustainable solution to this health crisis, it added.
HelpMeSee was co-founded by Albert L Ueltschi with his son Jim Ueltschi, with a singular purpose to eliminate cataract blindness.