Keonjhar: The upgraded eye care facilities at the Bijayananda Patnaik Eye Centre (BNPEC), part of the L.V. Prasad Eye Institute (LVPEI) network, was inaugurated on Tuesday at Keonjhar, Odisha. The facility has been augmented by Tata Community Initiatives Trust and Tata Steel Foundation (TSF).
Present on the occasion were Pradeep Kumar Mishra, ADMO-Medical, Keonjhar, Shirang Dhavale, Cluster Head – Social Services, Tata Sustainability Group, Tata Sons, Rajesh Kumar, Chief, Joda, Tata Steel, Dr. Rohit Khanna, Network Director, Public Health, LVPEI, Bibhu Panda, Delivery Center Head, Tata Consultancy Services, Dillip Sahoo, CSR Head, TPNODL, Ravindra Kumar, Head, Joda Impact Cluster, Tata Steel Foundation, Sudhir Singh, Chief Human Resource Officer, Tata Steel Foundation, Sanjeev Kr. Poddar, Chief Financial Officer, TSF Preventable blindness, primarily due to untreated cataracts, continues to be a major public health challenge. To overcome this challenge, the partnership between thetwo Tata entities has provided ten OT instruments including slit lamp and applanation tonometer, vision monitor, digital lensometer, cautery for plastic surgeries, handheld non-contact tonometer, emergency care equipment (DeFeb+Monitor), phaco machine, surgical microscope, cataract surgical sets and OT table to Bijayananda Patnaik Eye Centre (BNPEC) at Keonjhar. By strengthening infrastructure on BNPEC, this initiative impacts the overall objective to prevent blindness, contributing to vision restoration and improved quality of life among underserved and tribal regions of Odisha,This initiative focuses on the Foundation’s operational areas – Kalinganagar, Bamnipal, Sukinda and Joda – and includes the strategic upgradation of BNPEC to strengthen secondary-level eye care
