Sankara is committed to bring the positive changes in the eye care sector by addressing the challenges of non-availability and non-affordability of quality eye care. The global burden of blindness due to cataract is increasing day by day. In such scenario Sankara‘s goal is to eliminate needless blindness. Thus we follow 80:20 model where 80% of the beneficiaries receive free eye care every year. 20% of affordable beneficiaries’ group cross subsidise the cost of care given to patient from weaker economic sections of the society. The momentum of this humanitarian work is taken forward by the generous support of those who contribute financially to Sankara in different capacities. This goes towards our mission of providing affordable eye care.
Impact
Sankara strives through it’s every effort to provide quality eye care to all. An overall snapshot of Sankara’s performance provides insights on how the system is performing. Highlights of quality outcomes have been captured from across the value chain.
10 states are covered by Sankara’s Outreach Program. Over the next few years, we plan to build one more community Eye Hospitals in Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh). Our Outreach programs include:
Vision Center
The primary goal of the Vision Center is to deliver preventive and primary Eye Care services for the rural denizens. It serves as a vital link between a beneficiary and an eye care institution. It creates an eye care delivery channel that provides preventive, curative and promotive eye care services in a sustainable way closer to the community’s home.
Process
Process
Every day the patients are screened by the vision technician with secondary/tertiary consultation done with the base hospital through tele-ophthalmology. Patients identified with refractive errors are dispensed spectacles and those who require surgical procedures or treatment are referred to the base hospital.
The vision centre provides the entire circle of eye care (secondary and tertiary) through a link up to base hospital through tele-ophthalmology and referral care.
Amulu Ranjith is a 42 year old widow from a small village of Tirrupattur about 300 kilometres from Coimbatore. She works as a house-help and is a sole breadwinner for her three children. “I have no financial support from anyone.” She says sadly. In February, 2023 Amulu realised her eyesight was failing – people became stilettoes and bright lights became dull balls of yellow. She suffered from severe nutritional deficiencies because of which the reasons of her failing eyesight could not be identified at first at the local health centre. “I haven’t been able to earn anything since past three or four months. How can I? I live on a highway. I could not see any vehicles even!” Amulu describes how she could not cross the road or walk on the road due to loss of sight. She could take no risk as a lone surviving parent of her children. Without Amulu’s income, the family was plunged in despair. It was around this time in May, 2023 that she attended a meeting of Magalir Suyaudhavi Kuzhu, the local women’s self-help group. Learning about the Sankara Eye Camp here gave Amulu a new ray of hope. She visited the Camp site and was brought to the base hospital at Coimbatore later on. Post her cataract surgery, not just her vision, but her confidence has returned. “Only 40 days now”, she says quoting her recovery time, “I can return back to earning. I am confident that I’ll be able to cross the highway now!”
Many of us who can read this story cannot imagine being unable to navigate a road let alone not having a wage to feed our children for four long months. Lives like Amulu’s are steeped in darkness with little ability to change their circumstances without our help. And that’s what we do best at Sankara – leading those lost to night into light, once again.
Sennenjan represents 65% of rural India with agriculture as livelihood. Hailing from a small town near Chithode in Tamil Nadu, India, he grows corn and horsegram – both poor man’s grains. Sennenjan is one eyed – with permanent blindness in his right eye. His family of three young children and a wife depend on him for sustenance. Sennenjan is also involved in daily labour – it was during one such a day that Sennenjan suffered an injury to his only remaining good eye. While breaking stones with a hammer as a part of his daily wage work, he suffered an injury to his left eye. There are no speciality hospitals available anywhere near Chithole village where he could take any treatment for his eye. Not just his eye, but the very sustenance of him and his family was threatened due to impending blindness.
At this time, when all seemed lost, Sennenjan received information of the upcoming Sankara Eye Camp at Chithole at his local Sai Baba temple. “It was god sent” he says. In April, 2023 Sennenjan visited the Sankara eye camp and was brought in for surgery at the Coimbatore base hospital. “I could not see even the person sitting right next to me” he says. But after the surgery complete vision has been restored in his injured left eye by Sankara’s expert surgeons. Sennenjan who couldn’t see the person next to him, beamed happily for the camera after surgery. He didn’t need telling as to where the camera or the photographer was. His smile spoke more of his happiness than his words ever could. “Also, please add that there were no needles involved!” he laughs. Sennenjan’s laugh that returned after a dark gloom of blindness is a testament to the severe need of eye care providers like Sankara for rural India.
