The community outreach function at the Institute has been constantly evolving with the changing times. For the year that went by, the function concentrated on meeting the long term strategic goals of the Institution by focusing on:

• Developing a network of Vision centres across the Districts of Alwar in Rajasthan; Mewat in Haryana; Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh and certain urban slums of Delhi in a bid to reach quality primary eye care services to the underserved and the needy. These Vision centres have been set up directly as well as in association with local grass root NGO’s where available. Manned by Vision technicians who hail from local community and who have undergone a rigorous 18month training in primary eye care at the Institute, Vision centres hopefully in the times to come will ensure the delivery of sustainable and quality eye care services to the underserved.

• Through Vision centres and through the traditional camp based model, identify and mobilize the movement of those in need of eye surgery from various project areas. These surgeries apart from the regular cataract also cover all kinds of speciality work too. Across the entire network, of the total 5383 surgeries done free, the community function was directly responsible for the identification, counseling and transportation of 85% of the same amounting to 4576 surgeries. That amounts to almost 15 surgeries per day for 300 working days.