India – why Bihar?

Bihar is a butterfly-shaped state in north eastern India. When we were invited there by legendary Indian eye surgeon Dr Helen Nirmala Rao, we decided that we would focus our clinical and financial resources here.

For a small charity this was still a large and ambitious brief.

At that time, one in every 100 people of Bihar’s 100 million + population was completely blind from cataract. Numerous others were blind or at risk of blindness from other easily preventable conditions.

Much of the most impactful eye services our partner hospitals provide (eg providing the correct glasses for those who are functionally blind through lack of glasses, treating infections correctly and promptly or administering Vitamin A supplements to children at risk of childhood blindness) are relatively inexpensive to run; in addition, the information and education side of all good medical work is much easier if hospitals are staffed by people from the communities they serve. Each of our associated hospitals is an independent unit and finances most of the day to day costs including salaries.

What they cannot fund, however, is the large number of cataract operations required by patients who are blind and who have no means of paying for surgery, even at a very low cost.

For this we raise money…by not wasting a penny on expensive TV advertising or brochures but by being available to anyone who picks up the phone and able to answer any query you may have in clear, truthful language. If you cannot call, visit the blog page updated by founder Lucy Mathen whenever she has important information.