An event focused on raising awareness about the problem of blindness in India and about eye donation – ‘I Care’, will bring together eminent doctors and others working in this field on 16th October in IIM Udaipur Campus. R. D. Thulasi Raj, Director – Operations of Aravind Eye Care Systems and Executive Director of LAICO, Tamil Nadu will be the keynote speaker and will speak on “Building socially responsible businesses”.

India accounts for 25% of the world’s blindness, 80% of which is avoidable. In India, 12 million people are blind and a large chunk of this population is suffering from cataract. Cataract leads to blindness and can be easily cured through simple surgery. But a vast majority of the afflicted population cannot afford the operation due to poverty and also due to lack of awareness.

Also, around 4.6 million people are suffering from corneal blindness which can be cured through corneal transplantation. It can be made possible by eye donation.

Most of the corneal transplantations are carried out successfully and help in restoring vision. Eyes that cannot be used for transplantations are used for research and education purposes. The best part about eye donation is that anyone can donate to anyone. The blood groups of the donor and the recipient need not match, nor does the color of the eye. Even the people with weak eyesight can donate. A majority of the people do not donate eyes as they are not aware of these things and of the process for the same.

This session will also focus on how to use business models to solve such problems on a large scale basis. It is difficult to start a not-for-profit movement on a national scale but when the movement can be converted into a scalable business model like Aravind Eye Care, the problem can be reduced to a great extent. It is worthwhile to mention that Aravind Eye Care, started in Tamil Nadu in 1976, offers free and discounted services to the poor and still is a financial success.