A low vision exposure trip was undertaken to Bangladesh. During this visit our team (Ms. Prema Chande from Lotus College of Optometry, Dr. Subhra Sil from Vivekananda Mission Ashram and myself) we toured three partners in Bangladesh.
After a harrowing experience at Dhaka airport (where our luggage’s along with that of all the other passengers) were not only delayed by over an hour but went through an intensive search we reached the hotel. The hotel was (literally) a stone’s throw from the Bangladesh Country Office and provided us with nice facilities (including free internet and local telephone calls). As it was a Saturday (a holiday) and as our plans had been changed at the last minute to arrive on the morning of 14th Feb we had the day free to ourselves as no visits were scheduled. However Ms. Rifat (Programme Manager, BCO) was kind enough to come in the afternoon and take us out for some time around the city. We spent some time shopping and looking at the city. Dhaka is almost similar to any other city in West Bengal except for the fact that the cars and bikes are all either Japanese or Chinese or Korean models, which we do not at all get to see in India.
On the 2nd day we spent the first part of the day at Islamia Eye Hospital and at their Low Vision Clinic. It was an enriching experience to see the Low vision and Paediatric Clinic (both of them situated adjacent to one another). The partner has been successful in forging good linkages with CBOs and grassroot NGOs in Dhaka and coupled with their reputation in the field of quality eye care the patient inflow was quite high. The hospital was one of the pioneers to start LV work in the country and they are providing with good services both in terms of assessment, provision of aids and appliances as well as rehabilitation and counseling for the patients and their parents.
During the same day we also visited Centre for Disability in Development -- a grass root capacity building NGO located in Savar (around 30 mins drive from Dhaka). En-route to Savar we crossed the picturesque Buri- Ganga (a tributary of river Ganga). CDD is engaged in training of NGO staff from across the country in doing rehabilitation work with focus on low vision clients (and provision of aids and appliances).
After both the visits we rushed back to Dhaka to catch the bus to Chittagong. Travel by the beautiful Volvo coaches was pretty comfortable and I did sleep for most of the 6 hours journey. We reached Chittagong pretty late at night (around 11.30) and by the time we crashed into beds in the beautiful guest rooms at partner location it was nearly 12.30 am.
Chittagong Eye Infirmary & Training Centre is located in the heart of Chittagong and is very aesthetically constructed. The unique paintings and mural in and around the hospital really liven up the place and provides a different ambience to the environment. This is one of Bangladesh’s tertiary eye care center and over the last 4 decades they have set up more than 7 other branches across the country. Low Vision work is highly appreciable here and this centre has also been providing training to doctors as well as MLOPs in the field of Low Vision for the last few years. The hospital also has a full fledged optical dispensing unit which is wonderfully complemented by a low vision dispensing unit (producing both optical and non-optical devices).
After a long journey (by an even better Volvo bus) we reached back to Dhaka on the night of 16th Feb. We spent the next day at BCO interacting with the staff and learning about their projects and also probing them with lots of questions.
At the end of the meeting (which was scheduled for 1 hour but went for more than 2.5 hours) we managed to rush back to the hotel, grab a bite and be in time for the flight back to Calcutta. Thankfully the journey back was totally uneventful and we flew out of Dhaka (at 4.15 pm BST) to reach Calcutta (4.15 pm IST).
I thought I had satisfactorily met the agenda of my visit, until Kalpana and Shweta discovered how hard I found to spend a Takka on shopping...means no shopping...Dont worry there is always a next time !!!
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