Operation Eyesight India

Vision Centres are permanent facilities that are established in strategic locations within a project area and staffed by trained eye health personnel. They act as a link between communities and our partner hospitals, providing eye exams, dispensing prescription eyeglasses and referring patients to the hospital for treatment as needed. Most of our Vision Centres become self-funding within a few months of their establishment. This is done through meticulous planning and a cost-recovery model where revenue generated through the sale of eyeglasses and from patients who can afford to pay for services helps offset the cost for those who cannot afford to pay. Key objectives are as below:

1. Ensure access to quality primary eye care services in the target villages through the establishment of new vision centres.
2. Empower the target communities to take ownership of their eye health through a Behaviour Change Communication strategy.
3. Prevalence of blindness reduce to 0.30% in project intervention area.

Operation Eyesight in close association with partner and state/district health departments is supporting the expansion of the service delivery package for eye care at the Health and Wellness Centers. It adopta a systems approach to operationalize the eye care service delivery components using the prescribed operational guidelines by the Government of India and work closely with state and district officials to ensure all the critical elements necessary for optimal eye health are appropriately addressed using a continuum of care approach. Some of the strategies are:

Establishing Vision Points and Sub-Center HWCs and Vision Centers (VCs) at the Primary Health Center (PHC) level and Vision Points at a few selected Sub Center – HWCs after conducting a facility audit
Establish linkage of Vision Centers with District Hospital through piloting teleophthalmology
Building capacity of existing eye health staff on key components of Primary Eye Care (PEC) after training needs assessment
Increasing outreach of PEC services through mobile VCs
Building capacity of frontline health workers on early diagnosis and timely referral of all suspected cases with eye conditions

Cataract is the leading cause of reversible blindness and visual impairment globally . Blindness from cataract is more common in populations with low socioeconomic status and in developing countries than in developed countries. The treatment for cataract is surgery through Phacoemulsification for the cataract surgery in the developed world, whereas manual small incision cataract surgery (SICS) is used frequently in developing countries. In general, the outcomes of both the surgeries are good.

Operation Eyesight along with its partners will address the cataract backlog using community-based model. Community Health Volunteers trained by Operation Eyesight, will conduct door-to-door eye screenings in the target areas and identify the pockets of cataract patients. The partner hospitals with the support of its outreach team and optometrists will plan and conduct outreach camps to identify and refer the cataract patients to the hospital for further check-up and treatment.

India is on track to become the world's diabetic capital, with the number of diabetics projected to reach 79.4 million by 2030 and 134 million by 2045. Diabetic Retinopathy (DR), a common complication of diabetes, is a significant cause of blindness, with a 16.9% prevalence in India. This prevalence is exacerbated in urban slums, where limited healthcare access and poor awareness contribute to late-stage diagnosis and irreversible vision loss.

The health infrastructure struggles to manage the increasing diabetic population, particularly in slums where the prevalence of Type 2 (T2DM) is reported at 4.6%. Slum residents often face delayed diagnosis and treatment due to restricted access to healthcare services and low awareness levels. Therefore, addressing the intersection of diabetes, diabetic retinopathy, and eye care intervention in India requires concerted efforts in improving healthcare infrastructure, enhancing awareness and screenings, ensuring access to treatment.

As per the statistics India has 265 million children in schools enrolled across 1.5 million schools. The prevalence of blindness in children is estimated at 0.8 per 1000 children and the incidence of vision impairment is estimated around 5 per 1000 children. As per the statistics India is home to 0.2 million blind children and 1.2 million visually impaired children. As per WHO 75% of the blindness and vision impairment is avoidable and can be corrected if detected early and timely treatment is ensured.

Uncorrected refractive error is the leading cause of vision impairment in school going children with majority of the children suffering from myopia. Operation eyesight school eye screening project focuses on children between 6-18 years in government and aided schools have access to quality comprehensive eye health services within their schools.