Recently, on August 4, 2019, an eye checkup camp along with eye and organ donation awareness drive was conducted by the Deesha Education Foundation in the small village, Dhamni, located in Karanja Lad tahasil of Washim District.
Awareness about healthcare and particularly about eye care is very low in rural areas. The unavailability and inaccessibility of healthcare facilities in rural and remote areas make it difficult to create awareness. On average a person living in rural areas needs to travel 80-100 km to visit the hospital. Thus, many times people avoid going to the hospital for healthcare.
Dhamni is a small village located around 100 km from Washim. An eye checkup camp was organized by Dr. Padmakar Misal and conducted by Deesha Education Foundation on the campus of Gram Panchyat Office. The Deesha Group's state-of-art Mobile Eye Care Unit screen the patient and provided various eye care services. During the camp, Mr. Swapnil Arun Gawande, Trustee & Secretary of DEESHA Group, sensitized people about eye and organ donation. He along with Mr. Himansu Band, Ms. Bharti Tasre, Mr. Salman Parvez, Mr Sawant, Mr. Rakesh Bannore, Dr. Padmakar Misal motivated people to pledge for eye and organ donation.
A total of 130 individuals were screened for eye diseases at Gram Panchayat Dhamni out of which, 32 patients were identified with vision impairment, Cataract- 27, Pterygium- 5, Cataract & Pterygium - 1. Patients with minor problems were given specific medicines for various ophthalmic treatments. Around 43 individuals were identified with refractive error and advised spectacles. In the first phase of operations, 10 patients suffering from cataract, 7 females & 3 males, received sight-restoring through cataract surgery at a base hospital in Amravati.
(KNews talks about the eye checkup camp at Dhamni along with patients feedback)