Q. What does a day look like for you at the vision centre?
A. Every day, I wake up early in the morning, do my prayers, prepare some food and leave for my office. At the office, I start the day by checking all the equipment. And one by one the patients start to come in and we start providing primary treatment. I go back home at noon and bathe, eat and rest. I also feed and bathe my son. Every week a day is reserved for screening. On other days, patients come straight to the centre, and we provide primary treatment here.
The vision centre is open six days a week and we serve roughly 18-20 patients every day. Cataracts, conjunctivitis, watery eyes, injury and foreign body are a few of the problems that our patients come with. We also get some patients with glaucoma but for them we arrange tele-consultancy sessions or refer them to the BNSB hospital.
Q. Do some patients travel quite far to get to this vision centre?
A. Yes, some patients from far away do come to the vision centre to receive treatment. We do not have any limitation as to which area’s people we provide our screening and treatment to. Anybody from anywhere can come and we will provide quality screening and treatment.
Q. What impact has Orbis had on you, your career and your ability to do your job?
A. What I am now is all thanks to Orbis’s training. Due to the training Orbis gave me, I can now head this vision centre and help the people of this area. Without the training, it would be impossible for me to do my job successfully. The training is what made me qualify for this job. I want to keep receiving training in different subjects and enhance my skills.
Q. Why are women-led centres like this so important?
A. Women-led vision centres are important because people in these rural areas are not comfortable speaking openly with a man. But they can say everything in detail to a woman. These open discussions help provide the patients with proper treatment. Even if a man was to go house-to-house for screening, women would feel uncomfortable to come and discuss their issues with him. But for women-led centres, we can go for screening and every woman and child feels comfortable to share their problems. We can enter people’s houses and go close to them for better screening. But it would not be acceptable to women if it was a man conducting the screening and that is why women-led centres are so important.
Q. Do you think more women and girls are seeking treatment as a result? If so, how does that make you feel?
A. Yes, I do. We, at the vision centre, have been able to earn their trust, thus attracting a growing number of patients. It gives me a feeling that we have been able to make a positive contribution to society.