Inauguration of CBF-Supported Secondary Center in Rampur (U.P.)

November 3, 2009 by Dr. Suresh Chandra

On October 24, 2009, we started our trip to Rampur by road. It was a beautiful morning in Delhi and the bustle of the people had begun mush earlier. Along with me were Dr. Umang Mathur, Chief Medical Officer, and Arun Arora, CEO, of Shroff Charity Eye Hospital. We left Delhi at 7:00 AM on a treacherous road, and it was a 4-1/2 hour journey to reach Rampur. Although there has been much improvement in the highways system linking major cities in India, road to smaller, more rural areas are usually single laned and barely paved. As we passed from small town to small town, you could see various people going about their day – farmers delivering their crops, shipping truck getting their wares to the next major city and vendors selling fruits and vegetables.

The local secondary center staff had made all the arrangements for the inaugural and ribbon cutting.  To my surprise, I was greeted with flower garlands and other rituals.  I was then taken on a tour of the Community Surgical Center. It included a registration area, two waiting areas for paying and nonpaying patients, and two examination rooms (one completely equipped with a slit-lamp and other equipment). There were two patient wards with six beds each—one for nonpaying patients and the other for paying patients.  The latter was equipped with slightly better bathrooms and a refrigerator.  The center also had an official shop in the registration area.  The operating rooms were still under construction. The outpatient area was supposed to start seeing patients in a week or so. It was exciting to see how this community surgical center had come together.

The inaugural function was held on the premises of the community surgical center. The local community leaders and public were invited. Dr. Varma, from the Saharanpur area, was invited as the Chief Guest. After a few speeches by Dr. Mathur, Mr. Arora, Dr. Varma, and me, the ribbon cutting and official inauguration were held.  The facility was enormously welcomed by the people of Rampur since there were no eye care facilities or eye doctors in Rampur, and patients had to go to Saharanpur for their eye care. For the 700,000 people of Rampur and the surrounding villages, this was a welcome service. The community surgical center, with existing three vision centers and two in the planning, was estimated to become self-sustainable in the next 3-4 years.

As we started our journey back to Delhi, I was filled with a great sense of satisfaction in knowing that this community surgical center will help so many in need by providing quality and equitable eye care.