Living out a vision
An organisation in Noida has made it a mission to conduct free eye surgeries in rural India
 "Living out a vision")
With 7.8 million visually challenged people, India is home to almost 20 per cent of the world's blind population. A majority of these cases are in rural India. Their lives would probably have been different had they been aware of the risks of ignoring their condition and received timely treatment.
That is why medical professionals and development workers are increasingly coming to realise the value of mobile eye clinics in rural areas. "By conducting free weekly eye camps in villages, we can identify and treat problems like cataract and refractive error before they lead to vision impairment," says Sushil Choudhry, president of Noida-based ICARE - a hospital that performed over 10,000 cashless eye surgeries and treated approximately 150,000 impoverished villagers through its outreach programme in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan and Delhi last year. Over 80 per cent of these surgeries were conducted free of cost - arguably one of the largest recorded by a non-government hospital.
ICARE started small in 1993. Choudhry created the Ishwar Charitable Trust in the memory of his mother with the Rs 5,000 he received from her life insurance policy. Through the trust, he started a charitable eye clinic. "We relied purely on donations at that time and the only private patients I saw were those who used to come to me earlier when I had a private practice," he says. In the first year, they performed 900 surgeries. However, as their teams went from village to village, they realised how much more needed to be done. Back in Delhi, their clinic was bursting in its seams with charity patients. "We realised the only way to grow was by building a private practice that could support our charitable work," says Choudhary. "One had to sustain the other and enable us to be self-reliant instead of dependent on donations."
This revenue model has proved singularly successful. ICARE has grown from a single-floor clinic to a state-of-the-art facility across two buildings with 21 fulltime doctors on its rolls. While the ground floor is reserved for private patients, the heart and soul of the hospital is in the first floor where as many as 500 patients are treated in the OPD every day. ICARE also operates the only eye bank in Noida, and routinely conducts eye donation camps.
Choudhry talks about how underrated eye disease is in India as compared to cancer and lifestyle-related ailments like diabetes and cardiac problems. This is in spite of the fact that eye-related problems have a direct impact on a person's lifestyle and livelihood. "Eye problems can cause people to become totally dependent on others, so much so that even the act of going to a doctor for treatment becomes difficult to achieve independently," says Choudhry. "Loss of vision has a huge impact on a patient's ability to earn."
Take the case of Nathu Lal, a forest guard from Bhadurpur near Delhi. As his vision became hazy, his life changed. He had cataract in his right eye, but could not afford corrective surgery. And without the surgery, he was dependent on his children. ICARE operated on him free of cost, and he was able to resume normal life.
Walk through ICARE's wards and you will see many patients like Nathu Lal. "Since eye disorders aren't life threatening, their treatment is often not considered imperative," says Choudhry. "But we know better. We see the joy on patients' faces when their bandages are removed and they see the world literally through new eyes."
Over the years, ICARE's radius of work has grown to 130 km around Delhi. Every day of the week, its doctors visit specific villages at specific times. This way, patients know when to expect treatment and receive it more regularly than they would have if the onus of going to the hospital was on them. For each patient that they bring back for surgery to their Noida hospital, ICARE spends about Rs 2,850, all inclusive. "Of course, these are merely the operational costs and don't include the huge costs of installing the latest testing and imaging equipment," says Choudhry. Much of the equipment has been sponsored by individual donors and companies like Indian Oil Corporation and DLF, as well as agencies like HelpAge India.
ICARE has also actively imparted skills training to impoverished youths from the communities where it works. "We've created a one-year programme recognised by National Skills Development Corporation to train nursing assistants and vision technicians under which we are currently training 30 girls," says Choudhry. "The beauty is that not only does this enable them to improve their lives, they become a huge asset to us as well because they can communicate wonderfully with patients from their communities."
By emphasising the charitable aspect of medical care, Choudhry and his team contrast sharply with the growing commercialisation in Indian medicine today. "We ensure that all patients who come to ICARE receive the same treatment. My dream is to conduct one lakh free eye surgeries every year," says Choudhry, "It's a long way ahead, but I believe we can do it if we have the right vision."
To learn more, visit www.icarehospital.org
That is why medical professionals and development workers are increasingly coming to realise the value of mobile eye clinics in rural areas. "By conducting free weekly eye camps in villages, we can identify and treat problems like cataract and refractive error before they lead to vision impairment," says Sushil Choudhry, president of Noida-based ICARE - a hospital that performed over 10,000 cashless eye surgeries and treated approximately 150,000 impoverished villagers through its outreach programme in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan and Delhi last year. Over 80 per cent of these surgeries were conducted free of cost - arguably one of the largest recorded by a non-government hospital.
ICARE started small in 1993. Choudhry created the Ishwar Charitable Trust in the memory of his mother with the Rs 5,000 he received from her life insurance policy. Through the trust, he started a charitable eye clinic. "We relied purely on donations at that time and the only private patients I saw were those who used to come to me earlier when I had a private practice," he says. In the first year, they performed 900 surgeries. However, as their teams went from village to village, they realised how much more needed to be done. Back in Delhi, their clinic was bursting in its seams with charity patients. "We realised the only way to grow was by building a private practice that could support our charitable work," says Choudhary. "One had to sustain the other and enable us to be self-reliant instead of dependent on donations."
This revenue model has proved singularly successful. ICARE has grown from a single-floor clinic to a state-of-the-art facility across two buildings with 21 fulltime doctors on its rolls. While the ground floor is reserved for private patients, the heart and soul of the hospital is in the first floor where as many as 500 patients are treated in the OPD every day. ICARE also operates the only eye bank in Noida, and routinely conducts eye donation camps.
Choudhry talks about how underrated eye disease is in India as compared to cancer and lifestyle-related ailments like diabetes and cardiac problems. This is in spite of the fact that eye-related problems have a direct impact on a person's lifestyle and livelihood. "Eye problems can cause people to become totally dependent on others, so much so that even the act of going to a doctor for treatment becomes difficult to achieve independently," says Choudhry. "Loss of vision has a huge impact on a patient's ability to earn."
Take the case of Nathu Lal, a forest guard from Bhadurpur near Delhi. As his vision became hazy, his life changed. He had cataract in his right eye, but could not afford corrective surgery. And without the surgery, he was dependent on his children. ICARE operated on him free of cost, and he was able to resume normal life.
Walk through ICARE's wards and you will see many patients like Nathu Lal. "Since eye disorders aren't life threatening, their treatment is often not considered imperative," says Choudhry. "But we know better. We see the joy on patients' faces when their bandages are removed and they see the world literally through new eyes."
Over the years, ICARE's radius of work has grown to 130 km around Delhi. Every day of the week, its doctors visit specific villages at specific times. This way, patients know when to expect treatment and receive it more regularly than they would have if the onus of going to the hospital was on them. For each patient that they bring back for surgery to their Noida hospital, ICARE spends about Rs 2,850, all inclusive. "Of course, these are merely the operational costs and don't include the huge costs of installing the latest testing and imaging equipment," says Choudhry. Much of the equipment has been sponsored by individual donors and companies like Indian Oil Corporation and DLF, as well as agencies like HelpAge India.
ICARE has also actively imparted skills training to impoverished youths from the communities where it works. "We've created a one-year programme recognised by National Skills Development Corporation to train nursing assistants and vision technicians under which we are currently training 30 girls," says Choudhry. "The beauty is that not only does this enable them to improve their lives, they become a huge asset to us as well because they can communicate wonderfully with patients from their communities."
By emphasising the charitable aspect of medical care, Choudhry and his team contrast sharply with the growing commercialisation in Indian medicine today. "We ensure that all patients who come to ICARE receive the same treatment. My dream is to conduct one lakh free eye surgeries every year," says Choudhry, "It's a long way ahead, but I believe we can do it if we have the right vision."
To learn more, visit www.icarehospital.org
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First Published: Sep 26 2015 | 12:14 AM IST