Reaching the Unreached – Community Outreach programs for delivering quality eye care

The Poona Blind Men’s Association (PBMA) is a non-profit, non-government, was founded in 1952, registered as Charitable organization under the Society Registration Act. Since its inception, the team at PBMA’s H. V. Desai Eye Hospital has worked with the core value of “We reach out to the unreached and provide quality eye care”. This approach is very important, as most of the avoidable blindness is seen in rural, remote areas among very poor population and especially among young, school going children and senior citizen males and females.

Objective

  • Strengthen system in providing affordable, accessible community and primary eye health services for all sections in the community
  • Refer patients to the base hospitals for Cataract surgery and other higher services as required
  • Build the capacities of project staff (Project Coordinator, Health Workers & Ophthalmic Personnel) associated with service delivery through the proposed vision centre

The Community Outreach programs cater to population in and around Pune, Satara, Raigad, Aurangabad, Solapur, Osmanabad, Nasik, Dhule, Jalgaon with a catchment area of 1.5 million population. The hospital provides quality eye care services with equity to all rural, semi-urban and urban areas across all age groups (infants, school children, adults, senior citizen) and families with low income (Below Poverty Line).

The hospital currently (Jan-2024) has established 35 Vision Centres around Pune. A team of Ophthalmic assistants, community health workers also conduct door to door eye screening, identify patients who need Spectacles, Medical and even Surgical treatment.

Our teams seek active support from the local community leaders, government ophthalmic officers and partner with NGO’s on various projects. Details of some projects are in annexure.

Basic eye examination along with Spectacles and medical treatment (Tele-Ophthalmology) is given by the Vision Centre staff. Identified patients who need eye surgery are brought in a hospital bus to Pune, given 2 nights stay and then travel back to their home town in hospital buses.

The hospital also has a team of 28 highly educated, skilled Eye surgeons (Ophthalmologists), Medical Officers, Nurses, OT technicians, Optometrists working in all the OPD & specialty eye departments. There are 14 operation theatres, and about 350 patients can stay overnight, if necessary after their eye surgery. On an average, more than 500 patients and 1000 consultations are seen in OPD / IPD during the day and 175 to 200 eye operations are performed every day.

community

As per 2020 estimates by International Association for Prevention of Blindness (IAPB), in India, 270 million (2.7 Cr) people have vision loss, and of these 9.2 million (92 lakh) people were blind. With a large population ageing in the next few decades, this number will increase many fold. This will create a burden on economy and a big impact on living standards for everyone.

Impact of H.V.Desai Eye Hospital Community Outreach programs

In first 20 years (2000 to 2020)
  • More than 50 Lakh patients in OPD
  • More than 5.80 Lakh eye surgeries
  • 63% free surgeries to poor patients
In next 10 years, 2021 to 2030
  • More than 50 Lakh patients in OPD
  • More than 6 Lakh eye surgeries
  • 65% free surgeries to poor patients

We are grateful to many NGOs, International NGOs, Rotary clubs, and some Philanthropic business corporations who have donated and supported us for this noble cause.

Annexure I

Details of projects conducted in the recent past –

  1. Buy A Frame, Help a child to see – Paediatric Eye Care Project – supported by SEVA

    2. Objective : Provide Comprehensive eye care to school children in Pune district

    Project Duration Phase 1 July 2016 to June 2018 Phase 2 July 2018 to Dec 2020 (COVID impact after Apr-2020)
    1 Total students screened 1,30,466 81,838
    2 Total Spects distributed 2829 1715
    3 Total students operated 195 63
    4 Total teachers trained 545 206

  2. REACH Project – School eye screening project supported by ORBIS.

    3. Objective : Provide comprehensive eye care to school children in Satara district.

    Project Duration Phase 1 July 2016 to June 2019 Phase 2 July 2021 & ongoing
    1 Total students screened 3,53,618 2,26,562
    2 Total Spects distributed 12,088 3,097
    3 Total students operated 84 87
    4 Total teachers trained 9277 N.A.

  3. School eye screening project by H.V.Desai Eye Hospital supported by ORBIS

    4. Objective : Provide comprehensive eye care to school children in Satara district.

    Project Duration 2004 to 2006
    1 Total students screened 1,55,420
    2 Total Spects distributed 6,446
    3 Total students operated 1544
    4 Total teachers trained 4254

  4. Strengthen RoP services in Maharashtra – Phase 1 2009 to 2011

    5. Supported by Sight Savers

    Aim of the project- KAP survey-Knowledge, Attitude and Practice about Retinopathy of Prematurity amongst Ophthalmologists and Paediatricians was conducted.

    Training - Team composition -2 teams at H V Desai Eye Hospital and 5 district level teams were trained at H V Desai Eye Hospital.

    • Total 995 babies screened by H V Desai Eye Hospital and 686 babies screened by district level partners. (Total screenings were 2521 and 976 respectively).
    • 102 babies treated for ROP (90 babies by 287 laser procedures and 12 by Vitrectomy surgeries).

  5. Strengthen RoP services in India – Phase 2 from 2013 to 2015

    6. Supported by Sight Savers & AIIMS

    Aim of the project- Develop the hospital as training centre in collaboration with AIIMS for training of the ophthalmologist and paediatricians for screening premature babies.

    • Total 6 pairs of Ophthalmologists and Pediatricians were trained at H V Desai Eye hospital for screening premature babies (ROP screening).
    • One Workshop on ROP was arranged – 72 medical personnel attended the workshop

  6. SCALE Project

    7. Supported by SEVA foundation

    Under this project we are mentoring 8 eye hospitals in Maharashtra, Karnataka and Gujarat for their capacity building.


  7. Mission Roshni

    8. Supported by Mission For Vision

    The main goal of the program is “Eradication of avoidable blindness amongst school children in Ranjangaon area of Pune district”.

    Project Duration: August 2019 to March 2021

    • Total students screened : 1256
    • Total spectacles distributed : 25
    • Teachers trained :32

  8. Mission Seva

    9. Supported by Mission For Vision

    Objective: Provide comprehensive eye services to community people in identified villages in Ranjangaon area (Pune region, Maharashtra)

    Project Duration: August 2019 to March 2021

    • Total students screened : 399
    • Total spectacles distributed : 165
    • Total patients operated : 1

  9. National Tuckers Eye Health Program

    10. Supported by Sightsavers

    The Main objective of this project is provide comprehensive eye care services to the truck drivers in the catchment area.

    Project Duration: August 2018 to August 2019

    • Total truckers screening camps arranged :25
    • Total truckers screened :1534
    • Total spectacles distributed :598

  10. Facilitating and implementing an inclusive comprehensive eye health services

    11. Supported by CBM

    Project Duration: January 2015 to December 2019

    This project is being implemented in the Nandurbar and Jalgaon districts. The main activities involved in the project are:-

    • Development of Network and referral linkages for the people with disabilities.
    • Training, orientation and awareness creation activities for various stakeholders involved in the implementation of the project.
    • Service delivery –providing comprehensive eye care services to all.
Sitemap
SingHealth

PBMA’s H V Desai Eye Hospital

S N. 93/2 Tarawade Vasti, Mohammed Wadi, Near Corianthian Club, Hadapsar, Pune, Maharashtra, INDIA 411060

Contact

For appointments call
 +91 7276185145 / 020 26974000
Call between 8:30 am to 5:00 pm

Email: desaieyehospital@hvdeh.org
Helpline Number: +91 9870487488

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