LG Electronics India has launched Karein Roshni – Light For Every Sight, an initiative under its corporate social responsibility (CSR) that will support 8,700 cataract eye surgeries in India through five charity hospitals.
LG has announced its latest CSR initiative to support disadvantaged people on the occasion of its 25th year in India. Under the initiative, the company will support 8,700 cataract eye surgeries in India through eye hospitals, Dr Shroff’s Charity Eye Hospital, Delhi, Icare Eye Hospital, Noida, Sankara Eye Foundation, Coimbatore, H V Desai Eye Hospital, Pune and Sri Sankaradeva Nethralaya, Guwahati.
Commenting on the initiative, Young Lak Kim, MD, LG Electronics India said, “Over the past 25 years, our aim has not just been to make meaningful innovations that create convenience for our consumers, but also elevate the lives of people. Our latest CSR initiative is an effort to offer a gift of vision to the people, who cannot afford quality care. LG has always been committed to introducing meaningful interventions. We are thankful to all our partner hospitals and the people associated with this initiative for supporting us in this cause.”
Dr R.V. Ramani, Founder and Managing Trustee, Sankara Eye Foundation India said, “India has a huge population of visually impaired people. One-third of the world’s population of blind live in our country. The majority of visual impairment is either preventable or curable. The majority of patients suffer from cataracts.”
While efforts taken by the government and non-governmental agencies to combat blindness started yielding results, the pandemic in the last two years came as a bolt from the blue, pointed out Dr R.V. Ramani. “Community eye care surgeries could not be pursued in the last two years. As a result, a huge backlog of cataract patients has been accumulated across India. Only a concerted effort from all like-minded organisations would help in clearing the backlog of pending cataract surgeries,” he added.
Dr Umang Mathur, Executive Director, Dr Shroff’s Charity Eye Hospital, Delhi said, “Shroff Hospital, being one of the torch-bearer of the eye care industry, it gives me immense pleasure to associate with LG on this new initiative. I believe avoidable blindness is still a big challenge in India and initiatives like Karein Roshni help us move towards our goal of eradicating needless blindness. I wish we can spread more awareness with our work and be the reason for vision.”
Dr Sushil Choudhry, Managing Trustee, ICARE Eye Hospital and Post Graduate Institute (unit of Ishwar Charitable Trust), Noida said that blindness is not only a health problem, but also one of the most important social problems worldwide with enormous economic implications. Blindness is mainly a problem in developing countries and is preventable in at least 80 percent of cases.
The WHO/NPCB (National Programme for Control of Blindness) survey has shown that there is a backlog of over 22 million blind eyes (12 million blind people) in India, and 80.1 percent of these are blind due to cataracts. The annual incidence of cataract blindness is about 3.8 million. A cataract is responsible for 50-80 percent of bilaterally blind, and this is avoidable and treatable. Our constant endeavour is to reach out to these people and help them not only to regain their eyesight but once again live a life of dignity.”