Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Mar 27: Viklang Chhatra Trust (VCT) has appealed Governor SP Malik to make provision of cataract surgeries in all Sub District Hospitals (SDHs) and also appoint Eye Surgeon in those hospitals so that the vision of rural population suffering in dark can be restored.
In an open letter addressed to the Governor, Satya Pal Saraf, organizer of VCT Akhnoor, said cataract is the major cause of blindness, especially in rural and remote areas, where even after 71 years of independence, no surgical facilities for 75 % population of the State has been provided for this curable disease, which leads to blindness. “If timely surgery is avoided or delayed, an eye with cataract goes blind forever,” he added.
Saraf said that Eyesight being an attribute is the fundamental right of citizens guaranteed in Article 21 of the Constitution which the Government’s Blind Control Society has failed to fulfill. “Viklang Chhatra Trust, a family Trust with the cooperation of qualified Eye Surgeon of Government Medical College Jammu and Health Department, Jammu, by organizing free cataract surgery camp in remote areas of Jammu province, restored the vision of a large number of cataract patients,” he said in the letter addressed to Governor.
He said all the expenditure in those camps was born by VCT even without getting any financial assistance (grant-in-aid) from the Government. “Though this is the most humble contribution but it is just like a burning candle in the ocean of darkness, lighting the area of 2-3 metre radius,” Saraf said, adding the problem of blindness is so big that it cannot be resolved without help of Government.
Saraf said due to non-availability of Eye Operation Theatres, thousands of cataract patients are added in the already waiting lot grumbling in the dark, so it is appealed to you to make provision of cataract surgeries in all SDHs and appoint Eye Surgeons in those hospitals.
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