Rotary districts from india, finland and korea come together to alleviate the blindness in ethiopia
One of the Vibrant Rotary Districts of India, RID 3131 initiated along with the Club RC Nigdi an Unique Project beyond the Borders to Serve Humanity and set an example for the World.
Ethiopia is a country in East Africa having a population of 90 million people, and is believed to have one of the highest rates of blindness and low vision. Recent data suggests that over 4 million people suffer from avoidable blindness and low vision. Of these more than half are curable cataract conditions but are blind because of non-availability of surgeons & surgical facilities, especially in rural areas. The Ministry of Health, Government of Ethiopia along with several NGO’s are working in various parts of the country on blindness prevention and control program focusing mainly on cataract surgery through trachoma control through the SAFE strategy (surgery, antibiotics, facial cleanliness, and environmental improvement).
RC Nigdi (RID3131) team, led by IPP Rtn Ranu Singhania and PP Rtn Srikrishna Karkare,decided to supplement the efforts of the Government of Ethiopia by providing them 10 emulsification machines (useful in conducting safe cataract surgery) to be deployed across the rural areas of Ethiopia. They also offered to train 10 doctors on the skills to operate these machines. Four Districts from Finland, three Districts from Korea, and two clubs of Ethiopia collaborated with us to bring into reality this incredible, impactful, and mega project of helping poor blind people in 10 regions of Ethiopia. The big idea for this project was first mooted to the club by PRID Rtn Shekhar Mehta, and PRIP Raja Saboo helped bring the Korean districts on board. PRIP Rtn Kalyan Banerjee, PDGRtn Sudhir Rashingkar (RID 3131), PDG Rtn Mohan Palesha (RID 3131) provided valuable guidance and support at various stages in the project. This project has been conceptualized keeping in need the rural population of Ethiopia, which suffers from cataract and these rural folks do not have the means either to travel to the capital cities, nor do they have access to good health care.
The project costs 1,22,250 USD and involves donation of 10 Phacoemulsification machines to Ethiopia. It also involves training of 10 doctors from 10 regions of Ethiopia who will fly to India for training of 6-8 weeks.Finally, the club will support this project by awarding a AMC to the vendor for maintenance of these machines for 3 years.
Members of the club, led by Foundation Director Rtn. Vinod Bansal, have contributed US$ 54,000 for this project under their foundation activities in the Rotary year 2015-16. They were supported by Korea District 3590 (10000 $), District 3600 (5000 $), District 3690 (5000$) and Finland District 1380 (5000$), District 1400 (2000$) District 1410 (3000$) and District 1430 (5000$)
The Government of Ethiopia has entered into an MOU with RC Nigdi (RID3131), and all the machines are being placed in Government hospitals across various regions of Ethiopia, and doctors have been selected from these hospitals.
The Ethiopian Airlines has transported the machines free of cost from India to Ethiopia. Ministry of Health, Government of Ethiopia has sponsored the cost of travel of the doctors, and the training cost (including boarding and lodging) of the doctors is being taken care by Rotary Club of Nigdi-Pune.
The machines were initially handed over by the club in the hands of PDG Dr. Sudhir Rashingkar to the Consul General of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia Mr. MesfinGebremariam in June 2016 for onward transportation to Ethiopia. PDG Mohan Palesha and Mr. Tadesse Tilahun, Regional Director Indian sub-continent, Ethiopian Airlines graced the occasion.
On 27th September, 2016 at a glittering function in Addis Ababa DG Prashant Deshmukh formally handed over the machines to His Excellency Dr. Kebede Worku, State Minister of Health, Federal Government of the Democratic Republic of Ethiopia in the presence of His Excellency Mr. Anurag Srivastava, Ambassador of India to Ethiopia and Djibouti. DG Prashant was leading a team of 34 Rotarians and Anns from Rotary Club of Nigdi-Pune and Rotarians from Finland – PDG Dr.Matti Honkala and PDG Dr. Virpi Honkala (RID 1400). First Lady PadmajaDeshmukh was also present on the occasion.
Both the His Excellencies Thanked to Rtn. Rakesh Singhania for initiating the Project and doing everything he could to expedite the execution of the Project
The great humanitarian project by RC Nigdi (RID3131) will help over 3,00,000 Poor and Blind patients across Ethiopia.
