The Public-Private-Partnership Project for eye care service delivery has finally taken off in Bihar through joint effort of Sightsavers and its partner Susrut Eye Foundation and Research Centre. After a series of advocacy meetings with the Government of Bihar and a constant support from the NPCB (GoI), the MoU for the Public Private Partnership project in the Kishanganj district was signed in Kishanganj, Bihar. Recently, during the VISION 2020 Annual General Meeting, this initiative was discussed and appreciated for pooling resources from governement as well as private facilities.
PARTNERS
The programme is delivering curative eye care services through the Kishanganj District Hospital, using the existing government eye care infrastructure and complementing the system with the support of Sightsavers and its Susrut Eye Foundation and Research Centre, Kolkatta.
SITUATION
The district hospital of Kishanganj was not having a functional Ophthalmology wing for the last four years and thereby, could not perform any cataract surgery. This apparatus lying futile in this facility was directly influecing the CSR of the district.
Pic 1: From Sightsavers, Ms Elizabeth Kurian (Regional Director), Mr Prasannakumar (Area Director), Mr Sudipto Mohanty (Programme Manager) and myself attended the Vision 2020 AGM at Patna on 16th - 17th July, 2009
Pic 2: Kishanganj is located in the northeast of Bihar surrounded by West Bengal, Bangladesh and Nepal. PROCESS : Our Intervention
To start with, patients from two administrative blocks namely Kochadhaman and Bahadurganj of Kishanganj district were screened in Outreach Camps organized by the Susrut’s Outreach Team in April 2009. The patients were brought to Kishanganj District Hospital and the Cataract IOL surgery was done by Ophthalmologists from Susrut. In the first Outreach Camp 120 patients turned up and 83 patients were provided with cataract surgical services at the hospital. Till date 595 surgeries have been performed in the hospital.
OUTCOME
The programme is a breakthrough in the history of Kishanganj district where getting cataract surgical services through the government hospitals was a distant dream. The cataract surgery figures for the year 2008-09 is the highest ever achieved in the Kishanganj District hospital since the formation of the district in 1990. The eye OPD managed by the PMOA of the Kishanganj District Hospital has witnessed 10 times surge in the number of patients in June 2009 compared to that in the month of March 2009. This shows the tremendous impact of the services and the huge unmet eye care need of the district of Kishanganj.
IMPACT
As a result the district of Kishanganj has ranked second in Bihar only after Patna in the number of surgery performed per lakh population in 38 districts of Bihar in the month of June 2009.
This initiative is a sincere attempt to bridge the demand & supply gap of cataract surgical services with an aim to achieve VISION 2020 objectives.
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Send in your articles and feedback to Shweta Chooramani (schooramani@sightsavers.org)
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