Primary Eye Health Needs of Truckers

“The Trucker’s fleet that follows a more difficult lifestyle pattern, pertaining to their task of operating across long distances (at night), without taking sufficient rest, calls for urgent eye health interventions. In India 65% goods are transported through roads by 9 million truck drivers and transporters. To keep them safe on the roads, it is necessary that the driver’s eyes remain healthy. The organization, MPVHA strongly believes and committed to protect the vision of truck drivers through their regular checkups and providing other medical and spectacles support”.

The second important and unique eye health project is being implemented by MPVHA since 2019 with the support of Sightsavers exclusively to cater the needs of Truckers/Helper in city Indore is popularly known as “RAHI”. The project has adopted centre based as well as outreach camp based approach. Services provided at ‘RAHI’ vision centre are vision screening, refraction, old spectacles examination testing of glaucoma, blood pressure, diabetes, body weight, referral for cataract and distribution of spectacles (Near & Distant Vision) etc.

Another uniqueness of this project is geographical mapping of the program, which has been derived to resolve around the golden quadrilateral, which is a network of highways connecting India’s four top metropolitan cities, namely Delhi in North, Mumbai in West Chennai in South and Kolkata in East. The major halting points, warehouse, trans-shipment location, transport-nagars, ports, industries, yards etc. The truckers get sufficient times at these places and get their eyes checked up. Spectacles can be delivered at the spot or later on they can collect from any similar networked project spots. Unique I.D. number generated with details and their spectacles are delivered at their own choice centre.

• Improved eye care among truckers.

MPVHA is involved in eye care related activities since almost its initial phase of its establishment. MPVHA launched a special drive of eye camps during 1980 to 1983 throughout Madhya Pradesh state (including present Chhattisgarh state) under the guidance of renowned ophthalmologist and the then President Padamshree Dr. J.S. Mahashabde. Thereafter the eye care remained as one of the main components of Community Health Training Programme organized for health workers of its member organizations till 2004-05.