Free eye treatment and glasses

KOCHI: The charity project ‘Aayiram Perkku Kannum Kannadayum’ (Eyes and Glasses for Thousand People) was inaugurated at the Kunnathunad Grama Panchayat Hall on Tuesday. The project proposes to hold 24 eye camps across Kerala and provide free treatment including cataract surgery and glasses. It is being organised under the aegis of the Syro Malabar Catholic Congress (SMCC), the laity organisation of the St Thomas Syro Malabar Church, Chicago.MLA V P Sajeendran inaugurated the camp while the Chicago Diocese Bishop Jacob Angadiyath was the chief guest. The charity effort was conceived in connection with the 10th anniversary of Bishop Angadiyath’s consecration. SMCC has collected $10,000 for the purpose. Rajagiri Educational Alternatives and Community Health Service Society is implementing the project in association with Roshan Eye Care Hospital, Tripunithura, Chaithanya Hospital, Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram, Amrita Hospital, Kochi, Jubilee Mission Hospital, Thrissur, and Eye Micro Surgery and Laser Centre, Tiruvalla. At the Kunnathunad camp, 316 persons were screened, of which 185 have been selected to be provided spectacles and 30 have been selected for cataract surgery.