John Miles, one of the founders of the Guildford Rotary Eye Project, recently told a meeting of the Rotary Club of Warwick about the project’s work to restore sight to people who are the “avoidable blind” as poverty prevents them getting treatment.

Over 50 million people cannot see, study, or work, due to blindness which can be easily remedied, often with just a cataract operation, or medication. With over 18 million sufferers in India, the charity started work 17 years ago in Calcutta and Bengal establishing eye clinics for children. Working with local Rotary clubs and grant funding from Rotary International, eye hospitals were established and local surgeons trained.

There are now 36 Rotary Eye Hospitals primarily in India and Africa providing free eye care to the poor, undertaking Cataract surgery, treating glaucoma, retinal detachment and diabetic retinopathy, and over 100,000 cataract operations were undertaken in 2015. Just £5 donated can pay for a cataract operation once this is multiplied by Rotary grants

GREP differs from other charities which “parachute” eye surgeons in for a short period, and cannot help the huge numbers suffering from say river blindness, for whom knowledge and confidence in the service spreads slowly. GREP has busses which bring people into its clinics and hospitals for day surgery. Causes include poor diet with Vitamin A deficiency, genetic defects, poor education and poor living standards and hygiene. The charity is rebranding itself as Global Sight Solutions, to become better known and attract the corporate funding it needs to meet a target of 50 hospitals by 2020.

President John Taylor presented John Miles with a donation towards their work and thanked him for his talk and tireless work overseas.

If you would like to support this work you can donate on line to the Rotary Club of Guildford Eye Project or Text EYES45 £5 to 70070.

 

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