Kisanganj Case Study Presentation @ LAICO, Madurai: 27th & 28th Sept. 09

By Sudipta Mohanty (smohanty@sightsavers.org)

Programme Manager, NEAO

An unexpected call while I was travelling in Koraput, Orissa along with our CEO paved my way to attend the Global Consultation on Enabling Environment for Eye Care at LAICO.

Even though I was a bit reluctant to attend it sacrificing my dussera holidays with family, the lure of being invited as a guest speaker among the dignitaries like Dr. Para and others convinced me to be there. When I looked at other dignitaries who would be presenting along with me I realized that I need to make a thorough preparation for the session on our Public Private Partnership Project in Kisangani, Bihar. I was confident and I didn’t want to loose this opportunity to highlight our work in Bihar. The prep started with discussion on presentation with Prasanna and Suvendu (e-discussion as he was on leave) to get their perception about the project. After some deliberation, we could finalize a draft framework regarding the session.

The next hassle was to get my tickets booked till Madurai. After a lot of permutation and combination, we finalized to fly via Delhi to Chennai and than to Madurai. Thanks to Somnath, our new Programme Administrator who helped me in finding out all the possible connection (with cost consideration) to the destination. I booked myself in the Air India flight from Ranchi to Delhi and than from Delhi to Chennai without having a clue that I would run in to problem because of the Air India employee strike. Till two hours before the departure of the flight, I was not informed whether the flight would take off that day or not. Thankfully, it did.

It was around middle of the session, when I reached LAICO and was astonished to see that there were around 50 participants, some of them were known faces and some are from abroad as well. I had the opportunity to listen to Dr. Manikutti from IIM, Ahmedabad, Mr. Amarjeet Singh from Gov. of Gujarat and other such dignitaries. During the lunch time, I took the opportunity to meet Dr. Para and discussed about my visit along with CEO. He was quite inquisitive about the PPP approach and promised to visit the project during his next tour to India.

My session started after the lunch with a video show on Surat City transformation and it was inspiring to see that individual commitment , support of a team and consistency in approach was the key in bringing Surat city from the plague affected city to its modern day grandeur. I was correlating with the Kishanganj initiative and trying to figure out whether we had similar stages in the success of the project? Probably to some extent yes.

After a brief introduction given by Shashi, I started presenting on the Kishanganj Public Private Partnership project and how an enabling environment has been created in Bihar to work with government hospital as far as eye care is concerned.

My presentation was about 45 min. instead of the 30 min. allotted to me. I presented some data about Bihar, success indicators of the project and proposed an eye care service delivery framework for the state of Bihar. The presentation was well appreciated from the fact that it invited lot of inquisitive questions from the participants. Most of them were interested in knowing the cost share mechanism involved in the project and some asked about the sustainability of the effort and some also refuted the surgery per district statistics presented by me. However it was a very interactive session and finally Dr. Para was invited to sum up the discussion by giving his reflection on the whole session.

A dinner was organized at the hotel in the same evening and we discussed lot of issues and I tried to establish some contacts with the big wigs of the sector. I also had, the opportunity to meet few people from Philippines and we discussed about their eye care programme in the country. As a whole the journey though a bit hectic, it provided a great opportunity to meet a host of dignitaries and it was an honor for me to be among them.

I wonder how LAICO has managed to bring so many people around the globe every year to this October Summit. It must be the charismatic leadership of Mr. Thulashiraj and the quality of training provided by the institution. I feel proud to be an alumnus of this institute and look forward to avail similar opportunity in future…

WSD Celebrations @ Mumbai Stations : 5th to 7th Oct, 2009

By Bhavana Pande

The first day (5th Oct) started of with heavy rains slashing through the entire city. It seemed impossible to get started and even if it didn’t, it would have been justified. But the commitment of the health workers headed by Supriya ( Lotus college of optometry) , Deepak (KBHB Hospital), Aqua Theatre group and NSS volunteers stood apart, we decided come whatever we will go ahead as planned. The response by mid day was encouraging,all stalls recorded a huge number of people enquiring about eye care, discussing their problems and looking for guidance. The railway station event found exceptional support and success even in the face of adversaries.

On the 6th & 7th, I along with Katrina & Andrew (Sightsavers International, U.K.) visited the MEC stalls at Andheri, Dadar and CST. We left early to beat the traffic and reached to a huge crowd waiting to be addressed. We couldn’t’ resist watching form a corner and before long were in the crowd helping Supriya and her team to meet the need of the crowd that was thronging at the stall. We were astonished at the number of people we were able to reach out to; the energy and the excitement of the team at the stall was very encouraging and we wasted no time and got clicking some very good moments, as is seen in the pictures.

The CST station now known as the”Slumdog” station amongst visitors was our next stop. The structure itself was awe inspiring for us and once the crowd started coming by we had no time to waste. Here we had the highest number of footfalls among the seven stations in all three days. According to the register maintained at these stalls only at the CST station a total of 770 people came and registered themselves at the stall with their contact details.

People actively took part in the screenings at the stalls and it was a great sight to see young and old throng to be screened. What was also interesting to note that as our staff screened people the bypassers were actually seen imitating the actions and going in for self eye screening. Hats off to the entire team manning the railway stalls for having accomplished such a major 3 day, 12 hr task of creating awareness.

Not to mention Ketan and I had to run from pillar to post to get all the necessary approvals from Railways. Sightsavers & our partners would also like to thank the railway authorities for their unconditional support and co-operation for the event.

Vision 2020 Celebrated World Sight Day, New Delhi

I know you might be expecting another update on MEC's eye care mela held at Dharavi. Though, for a change, I am taking you to the national celebration by VISION 2020 on 7th and 8th Oct, 2009 held at IDSA Auditorium, Institute of Defence Studies & Analysis, New Delhi. This year's WSD theme was “Gender & eye health – equal access to care”.

On 7th Oct, under session 2 on VISION 2020 INDIA member organizations’ Perspective and Experiences, Sightsavers representative Ms Shanthakumari Gopal from North East Area Office (Kolkatta) got the opprotunity to share the experiences of on gender issues. Her presentation
titled "Gender Inequity: Findings from research and experiential learning" started with case study followed by the concept of gender, its impact, facts and its correlation with eye health.

Some highlights from the presentation are as follows:

- On average, the rate cataracts are operated is 1.5 times higher for men than women
- Blind or visually impaired women may not seek examination and care because of cultural constraints, cost, Travel or lack of access to information
- When women are denied equal access to health services, education and employment they are less able to care for themselves and their family

Later in the evening a media meeting and dinner was organized with the brand ambassodor of VISION 2020, Ms Hema Malini.

While day 1 (7th Oct) witnessed a full day discourse on the theme of WSD, day 2 (8th Oct) called for a half day discussion on "Integrating eye health in the National Health
System – A Gender based perspective" under the chair of Dr G V S Murthy (AIIMS).

World Sight Day Celebration : Day 1

By Sabitra Kundu

The World Sight Day celebration from 5th October started to mark the launch of events that would culminate with the grand “eye-care mela” at Dharavi on the 8th of October 09. Lined up through the stretch of 4 days, are a host of events. On 5th Oct, launch of the MEC logo followed by inauguration of MEC logo and kiosks by by renowned cine star Mr. Naseeruddin Shah at Khan Bahadur Haaji Bachoo Ali (KBHB) Eye Hospital at Parel.

Day 1:
Monday the 5th of October was a dark and gloomy day and nature was conspiring against us with rains pouring torrentially all across the city. Contrary to the norms of mother nature for this time of the year it was raining cats and dogs and water logging was reported from various parts of the metropolis. Bhavana was forced to take recourse of her son’s school rhymes and was heard humming all morning imploring “rains to go to Spain” so that smooth flow of events could take place.

With the rains continuing to play spoilsport and roads getting water logged all of us had a tough time reaching the venue and we were more concerned with our star guest been able to make it to the venue in time. However, we were unnecessarily worrying as the guest dressed in beige jacket and navy blue shirt arrived on time.

On arrival, Naseerji was taken on a guided tour to the hospital. The official programme started at 3:15 PM at the KBHB conference hall which was beautifully decked up with one of the railway kiosks, banners (featuring the portrait and signature of Naseerji himself), posters and balloons printed with MEC logo.

Event Highlights
After welcome and introductory speeches by Ms Elizabeth & Ms Katrina, Naseer ji inaugurated the kiosk followed by the release of MEC pilot project report. As memento, metallic badges with MEC logo was pinned to all the dais members by Ms Prema (Lotus College of Optometry).

Naseerji then delivered a wonderful speech in which he not only spoke of his experience living in blind school during the filming of his epic film “Sparsh” but also about one of his beloved professor who had gone blind years ago.
His confession of the fact that often the cause is over shadowed by celebrity endorsement and is limited to inaugurations and high profile corporate dinners, which actually dilutes the purpose. This statement drew rapturous applause from the audience for his insight. He ended his stirring speech with a commitment to support the cause in whatever little way he could as he always felt that actor’s (like himself) were underworked and overpaid and he would feel having done something useful than just entertaining people.

Around 4:00 p.m., Dr. Chandrasekhar (KBHB) concluded with the vote of thanks and invited all to join for some light snacks and tea. From print media DNA and Times of India were present. While Doordarshan captured the glimpse in short recording. Naseerji went shortly after following a detailed discussion with Elizabeth Ma’am and pledging once more his support for the cause.

Let’s Call it a Day!
Come rain or hale the event we proved that we could pull off an event (even with last minute glitches) and it was elevating to hear that the railway kiosks were generating a large no. of footfalls and was a grand success in the opening day. But more of that on day 2 for series of MEC and WSD events… Not to mention Kalpana and Shrinivas was too happy to have rubbed shoulders with the celebrity in a group photograph. While Shweta, Ranjish, Rajesh and Ketan were busy discussing about his extempore speech.

While you are wondering who has taken these photographs, all credit goes to Andrew (photographer from UK). He will cover this entire week’s event.

Testing Moments on Ground Zero !
While we all breathed a sigh of relief after the event, there was much hoopla and topsy-turvy moments behind the screen. Here’s a shot at it.

The event for launch of MEC logo was scheduled at 3 p.m. and at the ninth moment, 10:45 a.m. SCB informed that they were had called off the press conference and calling their contacts in the “fourth estate” stating that since its raining heavily there is slightest of chances that our guest will attend. Since, media coverage was in the hands of SCB. Our hearts skipped a beat and blood pressure raised a little as we got down to crisis management as it was too late to inform Naseerji about the cancellation and ask him to give the event a skip for a latter date (as SCB wanted).

A quick (standing) meeting was conducted and we decided to go ahead any way as backing out was not an option at this stage. Following this, the team worked furiously to call up people and press and requested them for attending the event. An alternative schedule was worked out and braving the rains our team set forth for KBHB hospital.

Many thanks are due to Mr Nitin Makasare as he was instrumental in liaisoning with Naseer Ji all through this event.

“Kodak Moment of the Day”
While Naseer ji sat of the dais, he saw Ketan perched in second row. He stepped down and greeted him with a warm hand shake. Ketan was touched and so are we.

Click! Click!

Why Gender & Eye Health on this World Sight Day?

By : Shanthakumari Gopal (sgopal@sightsavers.org)

Programme Officer - NEAO


My 15 years of intensive work experience in HIV and AIDS, gender, dalits and adhivasis rights, made myself so immune to look at any issues with that perspective. The third day of my work in eye care field was a visit to one of the hospital partner. Going through various records and documents, one thing strike me was the data where slightly larger number of women accessing eye care services in the free and subsidy sections. Hence forth my search began to find out the facts, on the process…. brought out the discussion with many Ophthalmologists but many of them responded that women and men are equally affected by eye diseases. It was hard to accept hence tried reading various journals then understood that the eye care issues are highly prevalent among women due to various factors.


Vision 2020 theme for the year 2009 is “Gender and Eye Health”. It is a well thought of theme at this juncture where a great level of disparity occurs in terms of accessing eye care services by men and women. Salute to the person/team that thought of this theme.


Two out of every three people in the world who are blind are women, 90% of blindness occurs in the developing world. Women and girls who are blind are doubly disadvantaged by their gender and their disability status. Surveys of Asian and African countries where cataract is the biggest cause of blindness have shown that women can account for as high a proportion as 74% of all people living with cataract.


What is gender?

To understand the theme Gender and Eye Health, first we should know what Gender is. Gender at a descriptive level refers to social differences between men and women. Gender at an analytical level refers to power relations between men and women. In other words, Gender describe those characteristics of men and women which are socially determined in contrast to those which are biologically determined. The fact is that only sex – the biological difference can differentiate men and women.


People are born male and female but learn to be girls and boys and grow into women and men. The socially constructed roles and responsibilities of men and women cleverly marginalize woman as a second class citizen and strategically denying their fundamental rights. Through reinforcing the set roles and responsibilities from the child birth women and girl children are confined within a limited circle, which keeps them away from getting exposed to the out side world resulting women with low self esteem and empowerment.


However the scenario is, women do 67 per cent of the world’s work, yet their earnings for it amount to only 10 % of the world’s income - according to UN statistics. Also, women are the central to success of poverty alleviation efforts but our policy makers fail to recognise the strategic potential of women as critical actors in the process of moving their families out of poverty.


In reality, due to the second class status women are exploited and denied basic rights which leads more than 70% of women in Indian society suffer from Anaemia and various other diseases including eye diseases and blindness.


Factors for high prevalence among women:

Although a limited explanation available with regard to gender disparities in blindness, the following are considered as some of the factors resulting high prevalence among women.

• Life expectancy of women is higher than men.


• Women much less likely access eye care information, services compare with that of men due to social, cultural and economic factors.


• Women of all ages are more frequently exposed to causative factors such as infectious disease and malnutrition.

Need of the hour:

We are well aware, through our eye care services we ultimately aim the society to have a better health thus live away from poverty and hunger. To alleviate poverty and hunger women should be in the centre of all process including our eye care services. So the need of the hour is …….

• Eye care professionals and policy makers should recognize that eye care issues and blindness is highly prevalent among women.


• The eye care organization should bring gender as one of its mandate to ensure equal access by both the sex. More women should be on board involving planning, monitoring and evaluation of the programmes and projects.


• To achieve equal coverage, women should account for around 65-70% of all cataract surgical cases. Blindness and severe visual impairment from cataract could be reduced by around 12.5% in low and middle income countries if women were to receive cataract surgery at the same rate as men
  

Our World Sight Day 09 plans

MEC WORLD SIGHT DAY 2009

Background:
World Sight Day is an annual day of awareness held on the second Thursday of October every year, to focus global attention on blindness and vision impairment. This year, it focuses on gender and eye health–equal access to care and this day shall be celebrated across the globe on the 8th of October 2009. The day shall see lots of events, rallies, cultural programmes, launch of schemes and activities at various parts of the world and also in a big way in India.

As part of the mega Mumbai Eye Care Campaign it is planned to have a series of events here in the heart of Mumbai which shall not only serve as providing the much needed information to the larger population of Mumbai but shall also serve as the base for the formal launch of the mega 5 year campaign.

With events ranging from awareness camps at important railway stations across the city limits, street plays, targeted group screening programme, general screening camps to the mega “eye – mela” on the occasion of WSD 09 at Dharavi sensitisation and information sharing to a large population base shall be achieved easily. While the event shall kick off from the 5th of October 09 it shall end on the day of World Sight Day (8th of October 09) with a big mela at Dharavi.
The event shall be in partnership with all our partners here in Mumbai and there shall be lot of involvement of local NGOs and CBOs, press and electronic media, local municipal bodies and other partners.

Objectives:
To raise awareness on eye care in the Mumbai city and launch of the Mumbai Eye Care Campaign
To educate the slum communities and marginalized groups regarding need for eye care.
Sensitize the community through media on eye health in general
Initiate screening programmes in the selected part of the city to provide services and raise awareness and reach out to a largely untapped but deserving community.

Expected Outcomes
The initiative is expected to raise awareness on blindness and vision impairment in the community. It shall also work to develop a better understanding of the issue of disability among the community. The official launch of the campaign shall also be done on the sidelines of the event so that people are able to better identify with the campaign and come forward to only avail of services but also contribute to the cause. With the event expected to grab lot of media attention it is felt that the programme shall not highlight the need for such a campaign and also increase the visibility of Sightsavers and other partners in the state and highlight on the good work that is been done for the needy and marginalized slum population of the city.



Partnership:
The initiative will be a joint endeavor of Sightsavers International and host of other partners – Lotus College of Optometry, K B H B Hospital, Xavier’s Resource Centre for the Visually Challenged, National Association for the Blind (India), Blind Person’s Association, Standard Chartered and many other grass root NGOs / CBOs as well as the local municipal bodies, Indian Railways and people’ representatives. There shall be active support from the media houses and talk is on with many of the government line departments for them to also partake and contribute in the events. The whole event shall be coordinated by the South India Area Team with support from our colleagues in the Regional Office and all our partners.

Details:
A total of 3 events are been planned in the week and building up to the mega event of World Sight Day on the 8th of October 2009.

Event 1 – Awareness drive at Railway stations:
In order to reach out to the larger population of the city it is planned to have awareness programmes at the railway stations. For the same discussion have already taken place with the railway authorities and permission for seven (7) stations have already been taken. The stations have been chosen not only in terms of spatial distribution of the Vision centres but also keeping in mind the maximum impact that can be had through the event. The chosen stations are CST, Churchgate, Kurla, Dadar, Andheri, Chembur, Borivali – a mix of Western and Central Railway stations. The programme shall be conducted through having stalls on the foot over bridges (FOBs).

The stalls shall be operational in between 8 AM in the morning to 8 PM in the evening and it shall be manned by 3 people / volunteers at all times. Basic information on eye care and MEC shall be disseminated through the stalls so that maximum people can be reached out to.

The stalls are been designed by Indus D’Sign and a total of 7 stalls shall be required. The stalls shall also have IEC materials, banners (at least 5 per station), MEC brochure as well as FAQ’s list with contact details of all Vision centres.

The people / volunteers shall be involved in talking to the people, distributing IEC materials (leaflets, pamphlets, etc) and when necessary counselling people. All stalls shall also have a ready made press kit so that in case of any media person coming into the stalls, uniform information is disseminated to them.

It is envisaged that we could get the printing of FAQs and MEC brochure done through some of the corporate contacts of our partners.

Event 2 – Media drive:
The media drive shall be targeting the population of Mumbai through use of innovative media events and programmes. The drive in media is divided into 3 parts – newspapers / magazines, radio and television (electronic media if possible shall also be explored).

1. Media house EURO RCSG has agreed to arrange for a press meet in which the press will be briefed about MEC campaign, Sightsavers International and World Sight Day 09 in particular. The media house shall be responsible for arranging of the journalists as well as entire conduct of the programme. Expected outcome would be coverage in newspapers / magazines so that information dissemination can take place.

2. Various Fm channels are been explored and discussion is in active stage with both Radio City (private Fm channel) and All India Radio (government owned Am station with a larger reach). This medium shall be used for spreading information on eye care in general, the MEC campaign, key messages for the public – it would also preferably feature talks from end of Sightsavers on the need and importance of eye care in general. The activities shall continue for 6 – 7 days depending on the messages to b e given to the public.

It is envisaged that we could get the media campaign of radio be done through some of the corporate contacts of our partners.

3. Discussion is also been held with the electronic media to conduct awareness and sensitisation programme for the people through use of television and other electronic media. No cost of the same is yet to be forecasted.

4. Newspaper inserts – It is planned that a small leaf printed paper insert shall be used to spread the information of MEC through leading newspapers. This one side printed paper shall be inserted within newspapers so that information about MEC is carried to the homes of people. This cheap and easy way of newspaper inserts shall be very useful keeping in mind the cost involved and the substantial reach that can be attained through this.

Event 3 – Mega launch of MEC campaign:
The MEC campaign is targeted for the poor and needy / marginalised sections of the society. It is therefore prudent to plan for a mega event at some of the project location to real reach out to those who are deprived of RE services. For the same a big event to culminate the week long activities is planned in the form of an eye care mela at Dharavi.

The location of the event shall be at one of the school grounds in Dharavi. Permission for the same is been sought from the Bombay Municipal Corporation and written permission for the same shall be received within 18th September 09. Government line departments have also expressed their interest to partner with us for the mega event.
The day long event at Sant Kakaiya school grounds shall be in the form of an “eye fair” (Drishti-Mela). Stalls shall be set up in the school grounds and these informative and entertainment based stalls shall be all manned by volunteers, staff and supporters of our MEC partners. A total of 15 stalls have been envisaged as of now and the stalls shall cover a wide gamut of information – partner details, activities that they are into, rehabilitative skills of the VI, game stalls (on the line of Antarchakshu), optical illusionary stall, etc.

The eye fair which shall be operational from 11 AM to 6 PM shall see a host of activities – day long screening programme at some stalls, information sharing, release of pilot MEC report, press visits, performance by bhangra troupe (subject to availability and costing), performance by the street play group, release of balloons and human chain.

Volunteers from NSS, corporation and local NGOs are been approached for effective management of the programme. The health workers shall also be actively part of the event.
Schools and colleges in the area shall be contacted for sending over their students to get information on eye care. Door to door counselling and motivation by the health workers shall be done so that more people can participate in the event. Local NGO information boards shall be used along with local cable channel networks to spread the information of the day. Information dissemination through PA system shall also be done.

The expected outcome would be a successful launch of MEC with enough media coverage that shall help in all future endeavours.

BRIEF BRUSH WITH BOLLYWOOD

By Bhavana Pande (bpande@sightsavers.org)

A Mumbai Eye Care Campaign representative and a bollywood buff by heart had a brief brush with bollywood past these couple of months. We all know of the impact of these known glamorous faces on the people where it’s beyond mere entertainment that people want to know more, live like their stars and desire to once wave and touch them! And probably this craze for reel heroes helps when an Amitabh Bachchan announces ‘Zindagi ke do boond’ to create a desired effect!

We hear stories of how these celebrities yearn for promoting their work and boost their image by adapting a benevolent style but on the other hand also have those unspoken incidents where they have done their bit for the society without making much hullabaloo. I presume I am opportune to meet the later ones more often.

Though we tried to touch many celeb hearts past these few months we managed to sit table across discussing the campaign with Rahul Bose in his own organization office called ‘Foundation’ which works against Sexual Abuse of Children and also supports the education of few tsunami affected kids. Here we met a Rahul who was already suffocated with the many causes he is supporting and many bodies he is representing already.”

After a popular demand at our office we contacted Cine star Naseeruddin Shah and managed to get his appointment at his shooting set in Goregaon, Mumbai. Shweta, Nitin and myself were inside a half constructed five star hotel wherein the owner seems to prove the world in his own way that to what extent a place can throttle you. The interiors were stinking rich and made you feel so dispirited. When we reached the hotel room where the camera was rolling we saw a Naseer who is about to collapse after 10 retakes only for “kaun? Woh!” by Mr. Dev Anand!

After the shot when Naseerji walked towards is room probably with the intention to scream aloud the aggravation we followed him and reminded him of our appointment.

To our surprise we were politely invited inside the room offered tea and then we got to interact with a true larger than life persona who was very patient, sensitive and mature to understand what we communicated.”Mujhe woh ribbon kaatne mat bulaana.Let me do something substantial” is what he wanted to say. We also presented him a Sightsavers Souvenir to which he smiled gently and said thank you!

Leaving I lingered how thankful he might be to get our ears to ventilate his feelings after working three long days in that hotel with Dev Anand for a movie of which Naseerji had no idea about!

Plight of a flight

By Ketan Kothari

It was a normal Tuesday and a rush to catch the flight to Vizag from Chennai Airport. I was worried since I was late and was fighting time to reach the airport.

Nonetheless, all was well and I boarded the flight looking forward to a nice nap for an hour and more exciting visit to Chodavaram. We were all boarded on the Jet light flight (quite shocked to find that all was going well and the flight was about to leave on time).

Alas! I was under some illusion as I heard an announcement informing us that there was some technical snag and the flight may be delayed for some time. I phoned Mr. Prasad Rao to inform him of the delay in my arrival and relaxed thinking that it will be a short delay. After half an hour we were asked to deplane and were promised that the aircraft would be repaired in an hour. We all went to the departure lounge and the nightmare began.

Hour turned into 2 and we learned from someone that flight was cancelled. There was no one from the company to allay our fears or talk to us. I was left on the lurch.

In the meantime, I started the phone and realized that my colleague Shweta (at Chennai) and our Vizag partners were worried and trying to get in touch with me. I phoned her and told that I was safe and the flight has been cancelled and I was trying for some alternate arrangement. The news also reached Mumbai and of course all were worried.

After a lot of haggling the jet representative informed me that now there was no way that I could be sent to Vizag and that in any case they were not responsible to make any alternate arrangements as we had booked cheaper flight. What kind of customer care!

After some calls I came to know that there was a Jet flight to Hyderabad and from there one could go to Vizag by a Spicejet flight.
I was not to give up and informed the Jet officials that either they were to send me to Vizag at their cost or I will have to go to consumer court for their behaviour. After a lot of arguments, pleading and cajoling they somehow put me on a Jet flight to Hyderabad and from there to Vizag via a Spicejet flight.

The story of our jettison by the Jet airways was very heavy so Jet light turned out to be a heavily tense, hungry journey were one was required to be patient but firm and of course focused at reaching the destination and alert as to their false information. In fact, they were so disorganized that they were avoiding everyone and could not care less if there was a blind person.



Inclusion in reality!

A Tyrst with the Premier of Largest Democracy

The third meeting of the National Committee on the Rights of People with Disabilities - India (N.C.R.P.D. - India) was held in New Delhi on July 24 and 25, 2009. This National Committee was formed by N.C.P.E.D.P. in September 2008 and meets twice a year. The aim was to bring together disability activists from across the country and across disabilities and lobby for the rights of disabled people at the national level. This year NCRPD has identified five core areas have been identified. These are health, employment, access, communication and information technology and rural development for mainstreaming disability.

You will be glad to know that among the who's who of this national committee*, amcha (in marathi, our very own) Ketan is a member. While Ketan is glad because he has a special moment to share with all of us...let's hear that in his witty ways!


Well before you enjoy this, here is key to get yourself updated with the news on disability : DNIS (Disability News and Information Service).


What is DNIS?
Its a fortnightly news service on the Indian disability sector and a part of NCPEDP's Disability Awareness Unit (DAU). It is supported by European Community and De Samvirkende Invalide-organisationer (DSI), Denmark. DNIS invite writers from all over India to write for them. If there is any news around your area that is relevant to disability, or if you would like to profile a person with disability in your area, they would love to hear from you. Visit at http://www.dnis.org/

Over to Ketan !!!

The Saturday 25 July was a hot, rainless day in Delhi and me with my couple of friends were involved in animated discussions about various issues relating to the rights of the disabled. The lunch time was an occasion to socialize and we were just about to finish the Chinese cuisine when I was asked about my flight timings and I told with irritation that my flight was late in the evening and expressed my disappointment that I did not book an earlier flight.

Little did I know that the so-called mistake of mine would result in one of the most memorable moments of my life. A few minutes later, Mr. Javed Abidi** told us in a most normal tone that we should be ready by 4 PM as we were to meet the Prime Minister. I am generally very cynical and am not much excited by such meetings but Prime Minister was something else. From last so many years, we had heard about his formidable CV and his commitment so one did look forward to meeting him.

We drove to 7 Race Course Road, but as it happens with me... my name was written wrongly and I was prevented from entering the premises. It was a lot of struggle and exchange of calls that I was allowed to enter. Initially, I had half a mind of conveying to my friends in Mumbai that we were to meet the Prime Minister but then I thought that one should wait as anything could happen and the whole plan could collapse. And when this issue of mistaken identity occurred, I almost felt that the whole excitement was wasted. But somehow it was resolved and I entered the huge premises. The walkway inside was accessible with ramps and we could hear a lot of chirping of birds especially the peacocks.

After some 100 metres of walking, we entered the meeting room and once we all were seated the Prime Minister entered; shaking everyone by the hand. He spoke so softly that it was a test of hearing capacity to decipher what he was saying. The conversation lasted for about 15 minutes. We appraised him of our expectations of the Government and he sounded quite aware of most of the issues. He said that disability matters were close to his heart and it gave immense satisfaction to him if he could help this community. I made it a point to thank him and the Government for making the elections accessible.

At the end of the meeting I requested for a group photo (I was surprised myself as I am not a photoloving person). He kindly obliged and the meeting concluded with a word of guarded promise from him. The day was inscribed on my mind forever and I will cherish the memory of meeting one of the greatest men who transformed the economy of India and gave us a lot to cheer about.

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* The members of the Committee are Javed Abidi, A.S. Narayanan, Arun Rao, Asha Mehra, Akhil Paul, C. Mahesh, J.P. Gadkari, Kanchan Pamnani, Ketan Kothari, M. Srinivasulu, Muthamma B. Devaya, Nilesh Singit, P.K. Pincha, Poonam Natarajan, Radhika M. Alkazi, Rajiv Rajan, Rama Chari, Shampa Sengupta, Shanti Auluck, Shilpi Kapoor, Shivani Gupta, Suhas Karnik, Sunil Kumar Singh, Vandana Bedi and Victor John Cordeiro.

**Mr Javed Abidi is Honorary Director of National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (N.C.P.E.D.P.)

Public Private Partnership in Bihar : A Service Delivery Model

By Suvendu Kumar Mitra (smitra@sightsavers.org)

Programme Officer - North East Area Officer

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)