Why Curing Cataract Blindness Is Essential For Better Economy?
Despite being a broad concept, poor health and poverty are often correlated. It is hardly a topic of debate that blindness, in most cases, is a manifestation of not only poor eye health but the overall poor health of an individual and, at times, the community. One of the most common causes of blindness is cataracts and the failure to get early detection and on-time operation. It has been observed that in countries with good quality health coverage and eye surgery availability, visual impairment is less compared to those with limited access to eye care.
Some Facts & Figures About Cataract-Caused Blindness
- It has been estimated that 95 million people globally are affected by cataract-caused blindness.
- 50 per cent of this population is from low to middle-income countries, while 5 per cent of cataract-caused blindness is reported from developed nations.
- People cured of cataract-induced blindness significantly increased their productivity within the first postoperative year. The increase in the economic level is almost 1,500 per cent of the cost of the surgery.
- Mr Tej Kohli, with his funding on cataract and cornea research, has developed cost-effective surgery, which costs only $50.
- Philanthropist Tej Kohli also invested in developing a cataract operating machine that allows the operation to be completed successfully within seven minutes.
Why Cataract Induces Blindness, Need To Be Acted On?
A study conducted on visual impairment caused due to cataracts has been found to be affecting people of lower-income groups in developing nations. It stated that 90 per cent of the blind population is from these countries, and blindness can be prevented or avoided. Research has shown that in under-served regions, poverty and blindness are consequences of each other. An outer intervention is needed with a complex and sustainable strategy to break the cycle. One of the significant issues that need to be addressed among low-income communities and countries is that they need to be educated that cataract-induced vision loss is not permanent and not normal.
Also, some evidence has been provided by a study undertaken by Price Waterhouse Coppers (PWC) that by building a sustainable healthcare system for eyes, i.e. a ‘gold standard’ for developing countries, the economic growth of the developing country will be far more. The study further mentioned that with this ‘gold standard’, existing backlogs for cataract-caused blindness can be treated, which will outweigh the operation cost by four to one, thus increasing the overall economic standard of the society and country.
The research done by PWC showcases the benefits that under-served communities and countries have by reducing needless blindness. These studies analyse the benefits beyond just the monetary value of a successful cataract operation. The benefits include an increase in gender equality, education, improved self-esteem, reduced child mortality, decreasing overall health costs while expanding the social network. In the long run, all these factors contribute to the better economic structure of the community, society, and country.
Who Understands The Impact Of Curing Needless Blindness?
Philanthropy is the way to create a sustainable world and economy. But just giving handouts mean nothing unless a proper plan and strategy are put into place like done by billionaire investor Mr Tej Kohli. The deep tech enthusiast and venture capitalist is one of the few philanthropists who understood early on the correlation between needless blindness and poverty.
As a result, Mr Tej Kohli formed theTej Kohli Cornea Institute in 2015 and later in 2019, the Tej Kohli &Ruit Foundation (TKRF) with Dr Sanduk Ruit. The latter works tirelessly to cure cataract-induced blindness in the under-served regions of the developing world, so they can reach their economic potential. The target of the TKRF is to screen 1,000,000 eye patients and cure 500,000 needless blindness by 2030 as part of the UN’s project #InSight2030.
