Plus

Plus

A Lions Club initiative Sight First, has helped to battle preventable blindness in villages
To see and live again
By Smriti Daniel
She sits alone in the room; a few stray beams of light fall through the window, but she barely registers them – for her all is darkness. Her eye-sight is almost entirely gone; the creeping cloud has left only the merest pin point for her to see through. She has accepted it stoically, believing it to be the curse of old age, yet even now she feels the weight of despair. Outside the town is busy and raucous, and she listens to familiar voices calling out. Suddenly, the hubbub is pierced by a recording that announces that the Lions are in town and that they just may be offering her the chance to see again.

Blindness is a terrifying thing for a human being to be faced with. Whether its onset is slow or sudden, blindness not only deprives a person of a very crucial sensory input, it also leaves them terrified and alone in the dark. In Sri Lanka, as in many other countries, this tragedy is more keenly felt as in many cases, the blindness was preventable, requiring only proper medical attention for prevention. This is where the members of the Lions Club and the SightFirst campaigns come in.

Prof. S. Chandrashekera Chetty, Technical Advisor, SightFirst to South India and Sri Lanka, explains that with the first SightFirst campaign the Lions “focused on victims of cataract, diabetic retinopathy and river blindness primarily, while with SightFirst II we’re looking at providing far more comprehensive eye care”. They intend to identify needy people in four categories – first those with vision impairment that can be alleviated by providing glasses, which the club will do for free; secondly, those with more serious problems who require surgery, which once again will be provided free of cost; thirdly those who require rehabilitation and fourthly children with eye problems.

The Lions who plan on raising nearly US$200 million over the next two years in aid of SightFirst II, plan to use US$102 million of that amount to “continue to do what they’ve been doing for the past 15 years” – essentially to go on with already well established programmes. “We also have to cope with emerging eye problems, caused by changing lifestyles,” said Prof. Chetty. “Life expectancy in Sri Lanka is now over 70 years of age,” he said, “we must keep that in mind as eye problems are often age related.”

He also drew attention to the numerous recent cases of childhood blindness among 5-9 year olds. “Many children are born with congenital cataract or cancer of the eyes,” he said, adding that “we now have 2 groups- the elderly with cataract, glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy and the children.

In Colombo various schools have become allies in the fight for “the right to sight”. The Social Workers Club of Musaeus College has been one of the first to show interest in the effort. Working with the Lions Club of Biyagama, they have made their own contributed to the “Used spectacles collection campaign” in the form of nearly a 1000 used spectacles; these were handed over to Lion Russel Aluvihare, secretary of the Lions Club Biyagama on September 8.

“We are hoping to involve many more schools in the effort,” said Mr. Aluvihare adding that they would be working more with rural schools to screen children for any sign of eye problems. In the meantime, SightFirst II campaign which was launched internationally in July this year, will continue to target not only individuals but also institutions in need of upgrading or expansion. “By enlarging operating theatres, providing better equipment, and training personnel, we believe that we can reduce the backlog of patients waiting to be treated,” said Prof. Chetty.

What is SightFirst?
SightFirst was launched by the Lions in 1989 to battle preventable blindness. This was at a time when more than 80 percent of the world’s cases of blindness were preventable. Thanks to SightFirst, Lions have restored sight to 4.6 million people through cataract surgeries, prevented serious vision loss for 20 million people and improved eye care services for hundreds of millions.

68,000 ophthalmologists, ophthalmic nurses and other eye care workers received training, while over 724 projects received financial support.
On average, about every US$6 in donations has resulted in a person with vision restored or saved from blindness. The Lions who raised US$143 million for SightFirst have set their sights higher with SightFirst II, both in terms of services and funds.

Back to Plus