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Kolkata Project

Kolkata Urban Comprehensive Eye Care Project (KUCEP)
Mission for Vision is implementing Kolkata Urban Comprehensive Eye Care Project in 13 municipal wards of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation. The entire project is designed by Sightsavers International, a global charity, which works with partners to eliminate avoidable blindness and promote equality of opportunity for disabled people in the developing world. The KUCEP is financially supported by the Standard Chartered Bank, while the Sankara Nethralaya (Kolkata) is associated with it as a valued hospital partner.
Kolkata, the capital of West Bengal, is the second largest city in India with a population of almost 4.5 million. About one-third of the city’s population lives in the slums. The city’s economic rejuvenation in the '90s was paralleled by limited employment opportunities in the rural east India. Thus, the constant influx of migrants create massive slums in the city. The growing slums created crowding, poor hygiene, high prevalence rate of diseases, malnutrition and lack of health care facilities. In fact, the Kolkata slums symbolise the worst of urban poverty and inequality. Most of the slum dwellers are daily wagers in low-wage sectors, working as rickshaw pullers, vendors, carpenters, rag pickers and domestic help.
Under KUCECP, two aspects of eye care are targeted - curative and preventive. Under the preventive care, focus is to create awareness, hold screening camps, distribute spectacles to poor kids, advocacy, network with the stake holders to improve services and establish right of sight. In the curative aspect, free surgery of cataract and glaucoma patients, treatment for diabetic retinopathy etc are being undertaken. The third crucial component of the program is establishing vision centres, to ensure to eye care services to the slum dwellers.
Mission For Vision is responsible for establishing the entire project, including setting up of the vision centres. Patients who need surgical intervention are brought to Sankara Nethralaya for free surgery.
KUCEP activities April – December 2010
Achievement
No. of outreach eye screen camps 96
No. of patients screened 5700
No. of surgeries (adult cataract) 992
No. of primary eye care clinics 16
No. of awareness events 81
No. of vision centres opened 2
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