Free Eye Check-up Camp and distribution of spectacles..

To make healthcare accessible to the underprivileged artisan groups, SETU organised a seven day long Free Eye Check up Camp for the artisans of our Godavari Women Lace Artisans Co-op Society (GWLACC) based in Narsapur, Andhra Pradesh. The venue for the camp was Vijaylakshmi Eye Hospital, Narsapur.

The artisan group is associated with SETU for many years and makes unique crochet lace products. It is the main source of income for the artisan families due to lack of employment opportunities in the area and for this reason people are migrating to nearby cities like Chennai, Hyderabad and to gulf countries in search of work. Being a coastal town, some of the residents carry out farming of coconut and rice and do fish rearing to generate some income.

The crochet lace art involves minute details and for this; artisans have to focus for long hours. In case of impaired vision, this may cause excessive straining of the eyes & thus other health ailments. Earlier in 2016, an Eye camp was conducted by SETU which was quite helpful as the artisans were able to get their eyes tested and were also provided with spectacles for free. Need for another eye camp was felt for regular eye check-up and therefore the camp was organised.

The camp started with a large number of artisans registering their presence and getting their eyes tested. In the consecutive days, more artisans attended the camp and eye checkups were done and medicines were distributed for free.. Where need was felt, optometric vision correction parameters were noted. Accordingly, custom made spectacles were made & provided to the patients with the prescription.

Artisans from the neighbouring eight villages benefited from the eye camp. Names of the villages are: Pendalka, Medicherlapalam, Antedgaon, Kunavaram, Mogalatur,Parupalam, Bodilankas and Narsapur..

• Camp started at 9:50 in the morning and continued till 1:30 in the afternoon everyday for seven days from 28th to 29th April and then from 2nd to 6th May.
• Around 15- 20 people underwent eye checkups each day.
• Towards the end of the camp, 108 women and 7 Men were distributed with vision-correction spectacles for free.
• Artisans were also provided with pick and drop facility.
• Those artisans who were prescribed with spectacles chose frames by themselves and they were very happy to do this..
• The Camp received positive feedback from the artisans and they want more such camps to be organised in future..