Imphal, January 28: Despite being one of the sub-divisions of Imphal East district, Jiribam has been lagging behind in terms of development in various aspects.

It is all the more so in the domain of health care where the people do not even have access to facility for proper eye care, which is one of the most important parts of human body.

These deficiencies and many other problems being faced by the people of the remote Jiribam came to light during the five-day long free eye care and cataract operation camp organised by Lions Club of Imphal East in association District Blindness Control Society from December 26 to 30, 2005.A 22-member comprising of doctors, Lion volunteers, Para-medical/technical staff conducted the camp under the supervision of State Programme Officer of National Programme for Control of Blindness Dr Y Yaima.

Sharing the experiences of the medical team with the Sangai Express, secretary of Lions Club of Imphal East Dr Rajmani said the response of the people was overwhelming.

Not only Manipuris but also people of other communities from as far as Lakhimpur, Bas-kind thronged to avail the medical facilities, he said.

On the first day of the camp, Dr Rajmani recalled, in all 310 patients turned to availed the OPD facilities, out of which 50 cases of cataract were detected and subsequently admitted for operation.

Due to space constraint, beds were laid on the verandas to accommodate all the admitted patients, he added.

On the following day, the medical team successfully operated on 46 cases of IOL Implantation and 8 other cases of minor operation from 9.30 am to 12.15 pm non-stop, he said.

Most interestingly, the IOL operation was conducted for the first time in Manipur by using the latest technology of Small Imaging Cataract Surgery (SICS) on 16 patients specially, the Club secretary disclosed.

He further informed that on December 28 and 30, Refraction test on around 60 patients were conducted successfully and gave proper advice on Post-Operative cares that need to be taken care of.

While giving the credit for the success of the camp to the Lions activists, Dr Yaima, specially mentioned the names of Ng Kiran Kumar of Khurai and A Bijendra of Jiribam.

Apart from arranging lodging and fooding for all the other team members, it is to the credit of the two prospective Lions Club members that the doctors could perform operation on the patients during the camp with uninterrupted power supply with their ingenuity in getting power connection to the operation theatre when there was no electricity, the Club secretary lauded.

The Club secretary further extended his gratitude to members of Children Ashram, Jiribam for their assistance in carrying out publicity.

Regretting over the inability of the team to entertain all the patients who came late, Dr Rajmani said that the people of the sub-division have required the Club for organising a similar camp in the near future soon.

Expressing concern over lack of medical facilities for the people in the sub-division, Dr Rajmani informed that the medical team came across a 10-year old girl from Jiribam Chingdong Leikai whose vision would be lost within 2/3 years if proper treatment is not given to her in time.

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