Touching Souls International Giving Free Cataract Surgery and Eye Treatment in Bangladesh as Part of Ongoing Program June 6
More than 1,000 individuals in Bangladesh will receive eye screening and treatment during Touching Souls International's three-day eye camp beginning on June 6. Free cataract surgery with lens implant will also be provided to 60 economically disadvantaged patients. The eye camp is just one of several projects Touching Souls International is providing to the disadvantaged people of Bangladesh during the month of June.
Hollis, NY (PRWEB) May 30, 2010
Touching Souls International (http://www. touchingsoulsintl. org/), an organization dedicated to providing the support, services, and assistance in health, education and safe environment needed by the economically disadvantaged people of Bangladesh, announces that it will begin a three-day eye camp beginning June 6, 2010. The eye camp, part of the organization's Sight Restoration and Blindness Prevention Project, will provide eye treatment to more than 1,000 disadvantaged patients. In addition, 60 patients will receive free cataract surgery (http://www. touchingsoulsintl. org/) with lens implant. The eye camp will be held in Maizkhapon Union Parishad Office, Nilganz, Bangladesh.
The 60 patients selected for free cataract surgery will be taken to Mymensingh Eye Hospital and to receive treatment and lens implant. On the third day of the campaign, all patients will be brought back to Maizkhapon Union Parishad Office. A second eye camp will take place on June 23 at a district location to be determined.
A large number of individuals in Bangladesh are cataract blind, a condition that is curable in most cases. However, for many Bangladeshis, cataract surgery is very expensive. As a result, many who are cataract blind may remain blind throughout their lives. Since Touching Souls International began its eye sight and blindness prevention project in 2005, the organization has performed 445 cataract surgeries with lens implant free of charge for the poor people of Kishoreganj District of Bangladesh. In addition, more than 7,600 patients have received eye screening and treatment as part of the program. From this year Touching Souls International will provide their eye camp in different districts of Bangladesh.
Touching Souls International (http://www. touchingsoulsintl. org/aboutus. html) is also planning to hold a cleft-lip camp in Kuliarchar, Bangladesh. The organization is currently seeking 20 cleft-lip patients for treatment during this camp.
Cleft-lips and cleft-palates are a major problem in Bangladesh and other developing countries. Individuals with a cleft-lip of cleft-palate are unable to eat or speak properly, often resulting in lives of isolation filled with the pain and shame of being deemed socially unacceptable. Touching Souls International helps by providing free reconstructive surgery for children and adults with cleft-lip or cleft-palate. Since 2001, the organization has performed 36 cleft-lip camps, each one providing free cleft-lip surgeries (http://www. touchingsoulsintl. org/projects. html) for 15 to 70 disadvantaged patients.
For more than 25 years, friends and family members of the organization have supported many projects (http://www. touchingsoulsintl. org/projects. html) in Bangladesh. On top of its eye and cleft-lip/cleft-palate camps, Touching Souls International provides a variety of other services to the people of Bangladesh. The organization's Artificial Limb Project, for example, will provide artificial limbs to 10 patients this year, while its Palliative Care Project continually works to provide funding for palliative care to those who are nearing the end of their lives. Touching Souls International also runs a school of 225 students, provides educational scholarships to those in grades 5 through 12, provides fellowships for water forum journalists, and runs a self-reliant program to help individuals gain back their self reliance and self respect. The organization also runs a home for the homeless program and an arsenic awareness program in different districts of Bangladesh.
"By doing the cataract surgery, we give sight to the cataract blind. By doing cleft-lip surgery we provide the freedom of smile. By providing artificial limbs and a self-reliant program, we provide freedom of work. By running schools and offering scholarships, we provide freedom of education. Through providing water forum journalism and an arsenic awareness program, we provide freedom to have clean water to survive. By providing palliative care, we offer a support system for patients facing life-threatening illness," says Tahmina Sultan, president of Touching Souls International. "Every program offered by Touching Souls International significantly improves the quality of life in Bangladesh."
For more information about Touching Souls International or its Sight Restoration and Blindness Prevention Project taking place on June 6, visit http://www. touchingsoulsintl. org/ (http://www. touchingsoulsintl. org/).
Contact:
Tahmina Sultan
917-388-6641
Tahminasultan(at)aol(dot)com
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