Events

Mon, 6th June, 2016 @ New Delhi

Global Compact Network India (GCNI) and HelpMeSee India Foundation jointly held a Knowledge Sharing and Networking Meeting to discuss advancing Sustainable Development Goal-3, ‘Healthy lives and Wellbeing for All.’ The meeting was attended by 60 people representing the business sector, civil society, and academia deliberating how innovative healthcare practices can make a difference to communities that still find it difficult to access modern and reliable healthcare. Pooran Chandra Pandey, Executive Director, GCNI gave an overview of the SDGs and highlighted the importance of Sustainable Development Goals 3 and 11. Venkat Sambandhamoorthy, Chief of Campaign & Field Operations, HelpMeSee India Foundation, highlighted how HelpMeSee is using state-of-the art technology and pre-sterilized single-use surgical kits to eradicate cataract backlog across the country. He said: “blindness caused by untreated cataract affects about 15 million people in India and creates severe social and economic burden on a family.” He added that HelpMeSee, in collaboration with a number of partners, works towards creating surgical backlog-free communities.

Ritesh Kumar Sinha, Director-CSR, DLF Foundation, highlighted efforts by the DLF Foundation to bring healthcare to the masses. He said that DLF Foundation is not only providing Curative Healthcare through Multi-specialty camps, but is also into Preventive Healthcare by running awareness campaigns. As part of its CSR activities, DLF also undertakes skill development, talent nurturing and cleanliness drives. Mr Sinha said that the company is also strengthening impact assessment procedures in a bid to improve healthcare services to the vulnerable.

Talking about the importance of establishing multi-stakeholder partnerships to bring development to the doorsteps of the people, Mr S. Venkatramanan of the Lions Health Foundation, Alibag, highlighted how HelpMeSee and the Lions have started a campaign in Raigad district, Maharashtra, to eradicate cataract by developing a cataract surgical facility. He added that even though the Lions were doing cataract surgeries, the collaboration with HelpMeSee has brought a lot of focus and value into the partnership. The partnership between the two organisations is spread over many countries. During the interactive session, Sambandhamoorthy highlighted the fact that HelpMeSee is working in 16 states and has successfully eradicated the cataract backlog in five districts- Chitrakoot, Banda and Hamirpur in Uttar Pradesh, and Satna and Panna in Madhya Pradesh in a span of 30 months. He mentioned that HelpMeSee plans to scale-up its work through partnerships across the country till the cataract backlog is eradicated. The participants discussed issues related to strengthening public-private partnerships, involving the community in preventive healthcare, bringing about gender equality, and spreading awareness.