Crores spent on advertisements, no infrastructure for provide eye care services

Tahir Mushtaq

JAMMU, Oct 13: While big advertisement campaigns have been started by the state government to prevent the blindness cases in Jammu and Kashmir, but on ground nothing has been done to create facilities for the same.

If a cursory look is given at the infrastructure available in the hospitals in the state to provide help to the patients affected by various eye ailments, one gets dismayed, while crores are being spent on the advertising different central sponsored schemes.   

“If these crores spent on media campaigns are spent on upgrading the infrastructure it could help thousands of people. Government is totally wasting the money”, said a official.

A senior doctor on condition of anonymity said that while number of programmes are organised every year on the World Sight Day, but they remain for that day only, while for other part of the year nobody cares about providing medical services.

Surprisingly state government has still failed to establish an eye bank in any hospital of the state, which is a major failure on part of the government.

Even though in the health centres running under National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), there is no availability of equipments and other required infrastructure, besides this the staff appointed is also not adequate.

“The government has announced the free eye checkup for the eye patients in our area, but where we go for the treatment as in the health centre of our area does not have the facility to examine the even patients for a simple disease” said Rajesh Kumar of Gho Manasha.

Wishing anonymity a doctor posted in a Primary Health Centre (PHC) said that the government has provided us limited infrastructure and staff is also less; we have to manage all patients within this condition.

Showing helplessness she said many times we have sent demands for medicine and staff but nothing has been done so far.

Director Health Services, Jammu Dr Madhu Khullar could not be contacted even after repeating attempts.

“Let your eyes live after you’--the slogan undoubtedly looks appealing but the fact is that not even a single eye donation has taken place in the past over a decade in Government Medical College (GMC) Jammu, which has no facilities to store donated corneas”, said a official source.

The last corneal transplantations were done at the GMC, Jammu, in 1997 and 10 years on things have not improved much in the backdrop of human organ transplant act.

However, a senior ophthalmologist claimed that registration process had been initiated and after getting everything in place donations and transplantations strictly in adherence to the human organ transplant act would begin.