Matching Grant #55300
Cataract Surgeries
Kolkata, India - District 3290

This matching grant project will fund 1,000 eye surgeries where cataracts will be removed and intra-ocular lenses will be placed, giving "Rotary's Gift of Sight" to 1,000 poor people in the Kolkata region of India.

In addition to the Rotary Club of Calcutta Metropolitan South, other funding partners are the Rotary Districts 6060, 6710, 7570 and the Avoidable Blindness Donor Advised Fund.

The project partner is the Rotary Club of Calcutta Metropolitan South in District 3290 and the international partner is the Rotary Club of Chesterfield, MO, D6060.

Below are a few pictures from December 2005, as the project began and the first of our 1,000 patients were helped.

India has one of the highest rates of "Avoidable Blindness" where many poor people have inadequate education and inadequate nutrition and health care. Cataracts develop and mature, leading to blindness.  Through publicity of screening camps via loudspeaker systems on cars and trucks, these poor blind people can hear about the Rotary funded screening camps, come to the camp and be screened to determine if they will have a good chance for a successful outcome.  

 Rotary District 6060 has written over a dozen matching grants during the last five years to fund the removal of cataracts and the placement of new intra-ocular lenses, which combine to give these poor people excellent vision. With help from many other Rotary districts, we have been able to help over 23,000 receive "Rotary's Gift of Sight."

They can return to the work force, or allow family members who had been taking care of them to return to the work force. They are able to cook and care for themselves independently following the surgery.