IN the remote corners of India, people who have no access to basic necessities live in desperation. In the Purulia area of West Bengal, entire communities are cut off from crucial services and lack access to basic needs such as medical care. In these areas of West Bengal where tribal communities live, there are no hospitals, no doctors, no medical NGO and no medical care at all. Due to this, people from tribal communities suffer from preventable conditions and diseases and their lives are needlessly cut short.
One of the main areas that people suffer from is poor eye health. Due to extreme poverty, conditions such as malnutrition and deficiencies cripple people’s health and since there are no medical facilities, people are not aware of what is happening to them once their vision begins to fail. Assuming their failing vision is a sign of old age, they do not suspect that it could be cataracts – a condition that is easily treatable with an operation. But these operations are out of the question for people who do not even have access to a doctor or a hospital.
Nanritam is a medical NGO that recognized this alarming lack of medical care and has been bringing expert medical care to the tribal people of Purulia for almost two decades. If no medical facilities exist in their areas, Nanritam reasoned, then we will bring medical facilities to them. The Kolkata-based medical NGO accomplishes this through medical camps and mobile eye clinics where trained medical specialists conduct eye screenings, diagnose eye conditions and provide eyeglasses. To those with more serious conditions, surgeries and medicines are provided to make sure their condition is treated.
Ms. Ranjana Sengupta is the Secretary of Nanritam and in this short video, she explains the immense suffering that tribal people in Purulia endure – and Nanritam’s intervention:
The impact of having zero medical care
In areas with no access to medicines, medical professionals or medical facilities such as hospitals or clinics, people are left to suffer with their worsening conditions such as poor eye health. Infections and diseases can be treated with medicines or surgeries, but these facilities are not available to millions of people from tribal communities who live in hard-to-reach areas. Because of this, people seek the help of traditional medicine men or other “healers” whose unconventional treatment methods often worsen the person’s condition and can even lead to permanent blindness.
Untreated eye conditions worsen over time and can eventually lead to the person losing their vision. This gradual loss of vision affects a person’s quality of life and can lead to a person losing their job and being unable to carry out basic functions on their own, such as cooking or crossing the street. Forced to lose their independence and depend on others for their day-to-day functions, people even develop depression or suicidal tendencies, especially those who have no one to help them.
Nanritam’s medical interventions
Nanritam is on a mission to eradicate preventable blindness by delivering comprehensive eye care services to underprivileged communities in Purulia in West Bengal and ease the burden of living with treatable eye conditions, such as cataracts. To do this, the medical NGO holds medical camps where expert ophthalmologists conduct eye screenings to diagnose and treat eye-related conditions.
For those with vision related problems, their eyesight is tested and spectacles are provided. For people with more complicated conditions, thorough examinations are performed and patients are referred to hospitals for surgical treatment, a process for which the medical NGO provides end-to-end assistance. Nanritam also provides follow up care to ensure each person is responding well to the treatment and recovering. The medical NGO is also equipped with mobile eye clinics which accompany the Nanritam team on these medical camps. These mobile eye clinics are fitted with state-of-the-art equipment to treat patients and offer high-quality care.
Nanritam’s mission to treat cataracts
“Let’s talk about cataracts. The thing about cataracts is – cataracts do not cause pain. But it causes slow blindness. When people get older, their vision worsens. So senior citizens think they are losing their vision because of old age. But it is cataracts. They have no idea that a simple 5-minute surgery can change their entire lives,” shares Ranjana.
Once people undergo cataract surgeries, their lives are transformed. These men and women no longer live in darkness and can carry out major tasks like going to work as well as experience the little joys of life such as being able to see their grandchild’s face. The medical NGO has transformed the lives of more than 1 crore people so far and its mobile eye clinics travel around 100-200 kilometers each day to bring medical care to marginalized people in desperate need. This is the aim of Nanritam’s medical interventions: to prevent blindness and ease the suffering of people with eye-related conditions.
Support Nanritam
Nanritam needs support to continue bringing urgent and much-needed comprehensive eye care to tribal populations in Purulia and other remote regions. Ranjana shares that “when we enter remote areas, like Purulia, we realize that we are the first medical professionals to have ever set foot there to deliver medical care for the people.” The medical NGO stresses that without the medical care delivered by Nanritam, Purulia’s tribal population will continue suffering.
Nanritam needs to purchase medical instruments and equipment and continue fueling its mobile eye clinics to reach people in need. “I appeal to all of you to please come forward to support this noble cause and help us restore their vision,” Ranjana shares. To support Nanritam, you can donate here:
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Shirley has been in the development sector for over 10 years and is passionate about making a change in the world around her, including adopting dogs and writing to make a difference.
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