The award was presented by Kadamba Cultural Association for the Disabled as part of their state level cultural programme.

Bengaluru :

Recognising his significant contribution to the field of ophthalmology and eye donation, Dr. K. Bhujang Shetty was conferred with the Seva Rathna award in memory of Helen Keller by drama writer Dr. K. Marulasiddappa. The award was presented by Kadamba Cultural Association for the Disabled as part of their state level cultural programme.

Dr. K. Bhujang Shetty, Chairman and Managing Director, Narayana Nethralaya, said, “There are two types of blindness – curable and incurable. We as doctors cannot do much for incurable blindness. But if there is even a single person with curable blindness, it will be our fault. Our vision is to work towards eradicating curable blindness. As Helen Keller once said ‘If there is anything worse than blindness it is to have sight and no vision’.”

“In the last two years, Narayana Nethralaya has given over `9.35 crore in subsidy and free surgical care for the poor throughout the state. Our KIDROP programme, a Public Private Partnership with the National Health Mission (NHM), Government of India, is a telemedicine programme to prevent and treat blindness in infants caused by Retinopathy Of Prematurity in rural areas,” Shetty added.

In less than a decade, the hospital has screened over 1 lakh infants and prevented blindness in over 1,900 pre-term babies, saving `450 crore in blind-person-years. Narayana Nethralaya has an eye bank with over 65,000 donors who have pledged their eyes.

“In the past five years, over 750 camps have been conducted across the state, close to 1.75 lakh people screened and over 8,000 free surgeries have been performed. In the same period, over 250 camps have been conducted in schools,” added Shetty.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Karnataka / by Express News Service / November 12th, 2018