DHAKA: Standard Chartered Bangladesh and Ispahani Islamia Eye Institute and Hospital (IIEI and H) have announced a collaborative effort to provide essential eye care services to 260,000 individuals in Bangladesh. The program will establish 71 comprehensive Eye Health Camps for adults and 1,667 Student Sight Testing Programmes (SSTP) for school children, significantly impacting communities across multiple districts.
According to Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha, the initiative aims to reach 10,000 adults in the capital and 250,000 students in Naogaon, Jamalpur, Barishal, Borguna, and Moulvibazar districts. It will also facilitate the transportation of patients requiring surgery and provide beneficiaries with eyewear, optics, and essential medicines. This partnership, which has been ongoing for over two decades, focuses on preventing avoidable blindness by addressing the needs of marginalized and vulnerable groups through service expansion and technological and infrastructural investments. Additionally, the partnership emphasizes the upskilling and training of eye-health workers.
Naser Ezaz Bijoy, the Chief Executive Officer of Standard Chartered Bangladesh, expressed gratitude for the collaboration. “We feel privileged to partner with Ispahani Islamia Eye Institute and Hospital in this journey, a journey that inspired a global program that touched over 250 million lives worldwide,” he stated. Brigadier General AKM Akhtaruzzaman (Retd), CEO of Ispahani Islamia Eye Institute and Hospital, reiterated the commitment to bring impactful change to patients’ lives with the gift of sight, acknowledging the consistent support from Standard Chartered over the years.
The initiative is part of the Bank’s flagship community engagement program, Futuremakers by Standard Chartered, which aims to help the next generation learn, earn, and grow. Futuremakers builds on the legacy of the Bank’s previous flagship community program, Seeing is Believing (SiB), which between 2003 and 2020 reached 250 million people by tackling avoidable blindness worldwide. As the birthplace of SiB, Islamia Eye Institute and Hospital, together with Standard Chartered, have significantly improved lives across the country.