August 2019 has been a busy month for India Vision Institute (IVI) with vision screenings spanning the far corners of India, from Tamil Nadu in the south, Haryana to the north, and two districts in Odisha, hitting 31,000 screenings in a month.
The activities included 18,404 vision screenings in tribal schools in remote communities in Tamil Nadu’s Kolli Hills, Namakkal, and Salem, 2,047 screenings in schools across Chennai, as well as 8,993 screenings in Odisha’s Boudh and Cuttack districts, Hauz Khas village in Delhi, and Nuh in Mewat (Haryana).
“IVI’s activities during the month continue to touch lives in remote corners of India with little or no access to vision screening,” said IVI CEO Vinod Daniel.
“With an estimated 62 million visually impaired in India – including eight million blind – it is a challenge. Our efforts in August will impact a good segment of the population in these states,” he said.
At a special event organised by IVI, 120 children screened earlier from among 1,942 at Chennai Higher Secondary School received glasses from the leader of the visiting Australian Trade Mission 2019, Mayor Stephen Bali MP of Blacktown City in New South Wales (NSW). Nathan Rees, a former Premier of NSW and a member of the Trade Mission, also distributed spectacles at the school.