UNNATI FOUNDATION

                                            (Click here for link)

                   Registered in India under the Society Act of 1860

                                                              Health Campaigns

                        Sight Restoration Project

 Unnati Foundation Inc., a non-profit (Florida, USA) corporation, is devoted to providing eye care services for the needy in the villages of India. India has 7 million blind adults representing 16 percent of the world’s total. There is a tremendous backlog of unoperated cataract cases and to top it off more than a million cases are added to this list each year.

 The leading cause of blindness is cataract (a clouding of the lens in the eye). Cataract blindness can be cured with surgical intervention. Luckily, India has its own experienced eye surgeons. We were invited to an eye camp in a rural India by a surgeon almost ten years ago. 

Since then we have co-sponsored, organized, and funded cataract surgery camps in U.P. and M.P.

                                       Mission Statement

To prevent and treat blindness and problems of the eyes free of charge, and thereby help improve the lives of those who cannot afford the eye care they require.

“It is not the receiver that is blessed, but it is the giver . . . exercise your power of benevolence and mercy in the world.”

                                Swami Vivekananda

                                         Modus Operandi

To work with local partners in needy areas, utilizing the local leadership talents especially experienced ophthalmic surgeons available in India who volunteer their free expertise.

To publicize extensively the free eye camps and expand the number of volunteers and donors.

To search new areas and new local groups who would benefit from our support and long experience on how best to organize eye camps in rural areas of India.

                                                                        WHO

“Cataract interventions are as cost-effective as immunization and can have a very significant and rapid impact in reducing the burden of avoidable blindness in a population.”

World Health Organization
Global Initiative for the Elimination of Avoidable Blindness, 1997

Vision 2020 is a World Health Organization initiative, which aims to eliminate avoidable blindness throughout the world by the year 2020. Various charitable organizations are now working towards this end. 

                                Financial Support

Unnati Foundation would like to invite the NRI communities in North America to participate in the free eye camps in India by sponsoring patients at the rate of $40 per eye.

As a non-government and not for profit voluntary organization, NRI’s can directly get involved in helping alleviate the sufferings of the needy village and tribal folks in India. We have closely observed the after-effects of their sight recovery—it empowers them and they begin to take care of themselves.

                                    PEDIATRIC EYE CARE

                                            2004 Projects                        

 Annual eye camps are held regularly each winter throughout India. However, only adults are treated at these camps. Children who are brought for a check up at the camps are to be taken to the eye clinics later. No one does. There is no follow up at all.

During 2003 eye camp screening in a village near Lucknow, U.P., India, Professor Khare, the Chair of Unnati Foundation, who was present there requested the attending surgeon to treat these children and restore their eye sight. Dr. Vinay Garg, a noted north Indian eye surgeon, nodded his head and said, “yes, we should."

Later, at Lucknow, India, a representative of Unnati Foundation took a 16-year-old boy to Dr. Garg’s Ophthalmic Center for an emergency check up. The surgeon diagnosed the boy with “retinal detachment” in both eyes, requiring urgent surgery to avoid loss of his sight. The surgeon remembering Professor Khare’s plea, immediately performed surgery without asking who was going to pay. When the latter was told about this incident in November 2004 while Dr. Khare was attending the LKO Eye Camp, he asked for the bill and requested his treasurer to reimburse the surgeon an amount of Rs. 18,000.

Unnati Foundation happily paid this amount to save a 16-year old boy from going blind. This pioneering pediatric eye care has paved way for future outreach efforts of this kind.

               INDIA 2005 EYE CAMP                                                                       Dr. Brij Khare

 We arrived in India the night of January 30, 2005. After recovering from a 23-hour long airplane journey we rested for two days at the Radisson Hotel near Delhi airport and then flew down to my ancestral home where my mother lived. Nancy had not been there for four years. We were unable to make it to my mother¢s funeral on May 8, 2004. Being there this time with her gone was a strange feeling

We returned to Delhi on February 9, 2005. The timing was right to visit an annual two-week long Handicraft Mela (festival) in Haryana state. This was quite a treat for both of us. We have frequented this Mela since 1995 when we lived in Delhi during winter.

With all the tourist activities behind us, we proceeded to Nagda, Ratlam district, in the state of Madhya Pradesh. This was an overnight journey from Delhi on a fast train. We had sleeper berths but I could not sleep on the train. When we arrived at the destination, our hosts at the train station received us. We went straight to a VIP guesthouse for rest.

The following day, February 15, we proceeded by car to Jaora, a distance of 45 km. It took almost two hours to get there on an unkempt road. We went straight to the local Government guesthouse, built during the British days, and were cordially received by our hosts, had tea and hurried to the eye campsite. There were people everywhere. Half were patients lined up to register for an eye check up. The other half were inside a huge tent (shamiana), sitting on systematically arranged chairs. We were escorted toward to the front of the audience and seated at the head table facing the crowd. Once again, we were garlanded by another set of dignitaries, including an elected member of the national parliament. As formalities began for the opening ceremony mother nature had another agenda. Being a desert region, the strong winds can blow at any moment. So it did. And the huge shamiana began to collapse. There was a virtual pandemonium. I told Nancy, “let us get out of here!” So the entire two-hour long opening ceremony took place in the open while the wind blew and the hot sun baked our bodies. After the opening ceremony we were taken around various stations where patients were being attended to—from registration to medical exams to surgery prep. The surgeries had already started.

This eye camp was very well organized. The organizers were some of the most competent, dedicated and sincere people I have met in my ten years of experience with eye camps. They had publicized this event in 24 villages and invited them to come to Jaora. They were assigned, as shown here, specific days for their visits:                                                                                                 

February 15-17: Jaora, Haat Pipalia, Taal, Alot, Kharva, Mahidpur,         and vicinity 

February 17-18: Badavda, Ghinoda, Khaachrowd, Nagda and vicinity 

Feb. 19-20: Ringnode, Kalalia, Dhodhar, Kachnara, Dalowda, Mandsore and vicinity

Feb. 21-22: Piplowda, Sukheda, Riyawan, Kalukheda, Mawta, Sailana, Naamli, Hasan Paaliya and vicinity                                                                             As mentioned above, the Jaora eye camp was scheduled for February 15-22, 2005, but so many people came from the area villages that the camp was extended to the end of the month. More than 1,500 people registered for eye check up. A total of 580 surgeries were performed (cataract extraction and lens “IOL” implants). That goes far beyond our imagination and earmarked budget.

1      307    174                  27

2          149        59                          52

3          120        65                          56

4          100        50                          45

5            93        48                          43

6          107        45                          39

7          105        50                          38

8          107        60                          39

The original budget that was submitted to Unnati Foundation by Jaora leadership at our November 23, 2004 planning meeting in Delhi was at least three times our share. This excluded our (Chair Brij Khare and Vice Chair Nancy Khare) travel expenses to India and inside the country. The Jaora group initially asked for a sum of $5,000.00 from us, which I had handed over to them in Delhi when we met in November 2004. Our financial contribution will end up much more than that. But it would be worth every dollar.

UNNATI OFFICE BEARERS, 2005

President               Dr. Brij B. Khare

Executive Vice President    Mrs. Nancy S. Khare

Secretary               Smt. Neerja Srivastava

Treasurer              Mr. Rajendra B. Khare

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Dr. P. K. Misra,

Mrs. Sarsa Narayanswami, Dr. M. Nahar,

Dr. Anjana Chandra, Shrimati Rama Khare,

CONSULTANTS

Attorney S. C. Birla,   Legal

Dr. Gilda Pianelli    Media

Diego Recalde        Media / Web

-------------------------------------------------------

           INDIA Secretariat,

           Smt. Neerja Srivastava, Secretary,

             Rajendra B. Khare

      Unnati Foundation, India Office

21/3, Grassim Staff Colony, Birlagram, Nagda, M.P. 456 331

                    2004 Eye Camp Lucknow                                                                                        By Jaspal Singh

On November 20, 2004, a free eye screening was held at Lal Kothi, Dasauli Basaha on Kursi Road near Lucknow. Needy villagers, numbering 98 were registered on that day. Dr. Vinay Garg and his associate Dr. Singh screened them. 56 patients were selected for cataract surgery with intra-ocular lens (IOL) implant.

 A week later,on November 27, 2004,they were taken to Garg Ophthalmic Center in Nirala Nagar Lucknow. They were reexamined and admitted for surgery. The surgery was performed on the following day by a team of surgeons headed by Dr. Garg.

On November 29, 2004 all of the patients were checked, their bandages were removed and treated with eye drops. He gave detailed advice to him or her. Dr. Garg himself made sure everyone understood him clearly. They were given free medicine and discharged.

From the evening of November 27 to the morning of November 29, breakfast, tea, lunch and dinner was provided free to the patients and their companions. Each patient was required to bring one person to attend to his or her personal needs. Unnati contributed Rs. 18,000 for this camp.

Unnati Chair Dr. Brij Khare, Shri Pramod Behari Khare and Dr. Prem B. Khare represented Unnati Foundation.

On December 5, 2004 and January 2, 2005, a follow-up camp was organized at Garg Ophthalmic Center in Nirala Nagar, Lucknow. Once again, Dr. Vinay Garg and his team examined the patients. All surgeries were successful to the satisfaction of both the doctors and the patients. The patients were happy and gave their blessings to all the volunteers. They were grateful to the doctors.

Out of 56 patients, 23 were male and 31 female. Right eye surgeries were performed on 29 patients and left eye surgeries on 27 patients. Several local newspapers published eye camp news with photos.

On selfless giving, Swami Vivekananda said: “It is not the receiver that is blessed,

but it is the giver. . . exercise your power of benevolence and mercy in the world.”

We invite you to sign up with Unnati Foundation Inc., a non-profit corporation, and

pledge to support eye camps @ Rs. 500.00 annually.

Name_________________________________                                                         U.S. dollar checks in the amount of $40.00                                                                                                                                    Payable to:

Address_______________________________                                                             UNNATI FOUNDATION INC.

             _______________________________

Phone: _____________________       

Mailed to: Unnati Foundation Inc.

 21109 Escondido Way, Boca Raton, FL 33433

E-Mail: ______________________________     

Comments:                                                                                                                            Thanks!

Rupee Checks should be made out to:

UNNATI FOUNDATION

Mailing Address:

Treasurer, Unnati Foundation, Inc.

21/3, Grassim Staff Colony, Birlagram, Nagda, M.P. 456 331

Unnati Foundation Inc.

21109 Escondido Way, Boca Raton

Florida, USA 33433-2534

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