CB BureauThe flagship programme of RPG Group, CEAT Netranjali has
claimed to have completed eye check-ups of over 4,200 truck drivers through 50
camps, across Bangalore, Navi Mumbai, Noida, etc. CEAT Netranjali works towards
preventing avoidable blindness in India.
Given the fact that they have to regularly travel long
distances, India’s six million-plus truck drivers mostly do not have access to
basic healthcare. In fact, their occupation predisposes them to a multitude of
risk factors. Identifying this segment, CEAT examined truck drivers and
detected eye problems like lazy eye, glaucoma, refractive errors and cataract.
Around 2,000 truckers were provided with free spectacles and about 100 were
referred to partner hospitals for further treatment and operations for free of
cost.
In FY 2015″16, Netranjali aims to reach out to over 23,000
truckers through 300 camps across 12 locations including Mumbai, Kolkata,
Bangalore, Noida, Ghaziabad, Nashik, Pune, Raipur and Nagpur. The programme
also aims to educate 450,000 individuals on eye health and examine over 75,000
at eye check-up camps.
In a statement shared with CauseBecause, Anant Goenka, managing
director, CEAT Limited, said, ‘It’s tragic that India is world’s blindness
capital when actually 80 per cent of the cases are preventable. CEAT found that
the truck drivers are one of the most vulnerable groups. Our survey of Mumbai
truck drivers revealed over 55 per cent of them across age groups had
refractive error, and for the truckers over the age group of 40 the figure rose
to 74 per cent. The good news is that if visual defects are identified and
treated in time, we can save people precious eyesight and their future, which
is why CEAT has launched the project Netranjali through RPG Foundation.’
In a span of four months (FY 2014″15), CEAT Netranjali conducted
55 eye check-up camps, reaching out to over 200 beneficiaries per camp, in all
covering over 10,000 individuals across the target groups – school children,
slum communities, the elderly, and truck drivers.