Standard Chartered’s ‘Seeing is Believing'

Friday 5 August, 2011

With an objective to make a difference through the Bank’s Seeing is Believing (SiB) initiative, Standard Chartered Bank Nepal Ltd and Tilganga Institute of Ophthalmology (TIO) have entered into an agreement today. Both SCB Nepal and TIO have agreed to conduct at least 15 screening camps between August 2011 and July 2012 for the underserved population of Kathmandu Valley and it’ neighboring districts. The Bank will sponsor cataract surgeries at the Tilganga hospital in Kathmandu for 1,000 patients from the targeted 15,000 OPD cases to be screened in these camps. The agreement was signed by Dr. Sanduk Ruit, Medical Director on behalf of TIO and Mr. Joseph Silvanus, CEO of SCB Nepal at a special function held at Tilganga Institute of Ophthalmology, Kathmandu.

These cataract surgeries and other eye care facilities are being extended from the funds raised through events viz. Walkathon and other Charity events. The Bank and its people conduct various awareness and fund raising events targeting community initiatives such as ‘Seeing is Believing’, `Living with HIV/AIDS’ and other Community activities. It may be noted that the Bank has so far sponsored over 5,000 cataract surgeries in Nepal.

Seeing is Believing (SiB) is SCB’s global initiative to tackle avoidable blindness with an aim to invest in comprehensive and sustainable eye care projects with a focus on building long-term, local capacity to tackle avoidable blindness in areas of high need.

This program has gone through different phases. So far, over 23 million have directly benefited through this initiative. Over 2.78 million cataract surgeries have been completed. Led by the employees of Standard Chartered, the `Seeing is Believing’ (SiB) initiative has proved highly successful in engaging staff and raising the profile of Standard Chartered globally.

Nepal has blind and potentially blind population because of poor distribution of eye care facilities, low economic status of the people and geographic differentiations. According to Nepal Blindness Survey 1980/81, cataract was the leading cause of blindness occupying ~ 70 percent of the total blindness. Blindness has remained a severe public health problem in Nepal.