Operation Eye Sight
"Poverty and blindness are the result of a vicious cycle where one condition feeds upon the other.
Through medical and social intervention this cycle can be transformed: sight can be restored to the
blind, and blindness and malnutrition can be prevented in the young, and therefore, lives are improved,
and individuals regain their vital connection to their community. This is the work and focus of Operation
Eyesight."
Rohinton Mistry
Author and Operation Eyesight donor
It is heartbreaking when people fall through the cracks, and it’s astonishing how many people can suffer for
years without access to appropriate medical care.
Dr. Sunil Kumar Thangaraj sent
Operation Eyesight a story recently, from Andhra Pradesh, India, where he is
Medical Superintendent of the Shreeramnagar Eye Hospital. He told a story that is far too commonplace. And,
although this story has a happy ending, it clearly illustrates the unbelievable situations that exist and how
our support really can change a life.
Matta Jaya and Matta Baby are two sisters who were confined to a school for the blind for almost all their lives.
They are 14 and 15 years old. Although the students of this school get general health exams yearly, the possibility
of treatment for their blindness was never considered.
Recently, the principal of their school learned of the work that Operation Eyesight provides for free at the
Shreeramnagar Eye Hospital. He approached Dr. Sunil about sending the school’s 120 children to the hospital for
specific eye examinations and assessment.
Shockingly, as a result of these investigations, it was learned that almost one third of these children were living
with conditions that could be treated!
Both sisters, Jaya and Baby, were diagnosed with
Congenital Hereditary Endothelial Dystrophy. A bit
of a mouthful, perhaps, but CHED is, for the most part, a correctable condition: the treatment is a corneal transplant.
The surgeries that would enable both girls to see for their first time in their lives were performed on the same day.
The results were very good and the sisters are doing well, marveling in the new sights and thrilling at the vision that
you and I take for granted.
As a regular contributor to this work, I am very proud that Operation Eyesight had a hand in it and you should be, too.
For years generous members of the Zoroastrian community have stepped up to the challenge – providing the means for us to
keep other children from falling through the cracks, as these sisters did. We are turning to you, now, to help us find
the next Jaya … to provide the corneal transplant for the next Baby.
Your support for Operation Eyesight helps create and sustain a network of eye care prevention and treatment centres in
India and other developing countries. That is our vision and our goal. We can do it, together, with your help.
USHTA TE
Thank you
Phiroz Dastoor
Donation Form