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  Q1 – April-June 2015 - Newsletter  
 
Eye-land in Bay of Bengal
 
 
Irrukam is a tiny island in the Bay of Bengal, 60-km northeast of Chennai in Tamil Nadu. Getting to this predominantly fishing hamlet of about 3,500 people involves a rail or road journey followed by an hour-long boat ride. MFV, along with partner Sankara Nethralaya Jaslok Community Ophthalmic Centre, organised an eye camp here, the first such programme by any hospital on this remote island.
 
 
 
 
92 villagers att‚ended the camp, held in the community centre of the local panchayat. Of these, 33 were found to be suffering from defective vision. However, a long-held mistrust of medical procedures meant that only 10 of them agreed to visit the hospital and undergo treatment. Seven villagers underwent cataract surgeries, two were prescribed glasses and one was asked to return to the hospital at a later date to undergo a retina review.

This was MFV’s first effort at building awareness about local health systems in this community. Boosted by the positive and successful first trial, we will continue our efforts to eradicate avoidable blindness among all remote communities of India.
 
 
The return boat ride with the patients for surgery. Later, patients board the bus to go to the hospital.
 
 
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