The programme is expected to impact 8-9 Lakh of the underserved population across eight districts in Karnataka
Centre for Cellular and Molecular Platforms announced a partnership with the Government of Karnataka’s Health and Family Welfare Department and ACT For Health, towards implementing a ‘Comprehensive Eye Care Programme for Karnataka using Innovative, Indigenous Health Technology’.
ACT, a venture philanthropy platform, is supporting this initiative through its healthcare vertical by providing funding of Rs 5.7 crore for 2024. The programme is expected to impact 8-9 lakh of the underserved population across eight districts in Karnataka. It aligns with the Karnataka State vision care programme, Asha Kirana under the National Health Mission’s National Programme for Control of Blindness & Visual Impairment, NPCBVI, to implement ophthalmic devices that utilise digital solutions and cloud-based technology to eradicate preventable blindness in wide age group from five to 80 years.
Additionally, this programme will support eye care for all public transport personnel through screening and eye checkups with the provision of free spectacles for vision correction. Aptly termed as Sarige Asha Kirana, it positively impacts the public safety of nearly 1.1 crore daily commuters of Karnataka’s public transport.
The programme was launched by the Health Minister, Government of Karnataka, Dinesh Gundu Rao in the presence of Transport Minister, Ramalinga Reddy and C-CAMP Director-CEO, Dr Taslimarif Saiyed, along with Sandeep Singhal, Board Member, ACT Capital Foundation at Vikas Soudha, Bengaluru.
Dr Saiyed remarked, “Through this project, we are aiming to enhance public health infrastructure to deliver quality eye care across Karnataka and significantly reduce the prevalence of preventable blindness in the age group between 5-80 years. This will be achieved through innovative screening technologies and enabling access to teleophthalmology for specialised care in rural health centres. We will work in close collaboration with the Government of Karnataka to implement the projects for the selected districts. We are deeply thankful for the support from ACT, a leading name in India’s social impact and philanthropy space, to help implement this ambitious project.”
Said Krisha Mathur, Director – ACT For Health, “We believe it could create lasting impact at scale by bringing cutting-edge innovations that address critical ophthalmology needs in existing primary healthcare programmes in Karnataka. But what we feel will be truly catalytic is the potential this partnership holds to gather important learnings and insights on the use-case for technology-led innovation which can help strengthen India’s public healthcare system at large.”
