Bhaskar Sharma at the news meet in Patna on Wednesday. Picture by Jai Prakash

Patna, Oct. 12: With focus on vision to all, Sri Sai Netralaya — a flagship project of Lions of Patna Service Trust, a non-profit 60-bed eye hospital — will organise eye and ear treatment camps in several parts of Bihar and Ranchi, in collaboration with Power Grid Corporation of India (PGCI).

The move is likely to benefit thousands of patients in the state.

The camps will be organised from October 20 and will continue till January 1 next year. Announcing the initiative at a news meet in the capital today, Ashok Kumar, the chairman of the hospital, said the Netralaya would conduct free eye and ear check-up camps in Patna, Sasaram, Biharsharif, Gaya, Purnea and Ranchi.

“During the camps, cataract surgeries on about 600 patients will also be performed and we will distribute free hearing aid machines to about 150 patients. PGCI will provide financial assistance to us for the cause under their corporate social responsibility programme,” said Ashok, adding that follow-up camps will also be organised at these places.

He added: “Since the inception of the Netralaya in December 12, 2004, we have performed more than 30,000 cataract surgeries at the hospital. Squint and eye-related other surgeries have derived cent per cent result. Apart from that, free out-patient department treatment has been given to about 4 lakh patients so far.”

He added that the Netralaya also plans to start a retina transplantation facility next year, a first in the state. “As of now, patients seeking retina transplantation have to go to metropolitan cities for treatment. Once the centre starts the surgeries here, it will immensely benefit a large number of patients. We also plan to start another eye hospital in Banka in the next two months,” Ashok said.

PGCI east zone executive director Bhaskar Sharma said the corporation would extend support in terms of infrastructure, resources and manpower to organise the camps successfully.

“We want to work for the benefit of the marginalised sections of the society. We are extending our help to Netralaya’s mission of giving vision to all. Though diseases like cataract are curable, there are people who ignore it mainly because of poverty and prefer to live with it helplessly without knowing that they are heading towards certain blindness. Our effort is to provide helping hand to those people,” Sharma added.

Members of the Lions trust appealed to more corporate bodies to come forward and work for medical and social causes.

“We are doing things with our limited means but we definitely need big corporate houses to help us like they do in big cities. Only then can we expand ourselves and reach out to more and more people,” said Ashok.