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ASG Eye Hospital, founded in December 2005 in Jodhpur by All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) New Delhi alumni Dr Arun Singhvi, has announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the State Health Society, Bihar (SHSB) for setting up of 200 state-of-the-art Vision Centres across 38 districts of Bihar under a first-of-its-kind public–private partnership (PPP) in primary eye care in India.
This unique initiative will advance primary ophthalmic care within existing government health infrastructure to address the growing threat of blindness and vision impairment due to highly treatable disorders like cataract, glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, and other conditions.
These vision centres managed by ASG Eye Hospital will be integrated with the Primary Health Centers (PHCs), Community Health Centers (CHCs), Sub-Divisional Hospitals (SDHs), as well as Referral Hospitals (RHs) and serve as the community’s first point of contact for eye health services.
Each vision centre will be equipped with advanced diagnostic instruments including auto-refractometers, slit lamps, tonometers, retinoscopes, trial lens sets, near vision drums, pen torches, binomag, trial frames, near vision books and telemedicine-enabled systems to facilitate remote consultations with ASG’s network of senior ophthalmologists taking accessibility much farther than just physical centres.
The vision centres will be staffed with highly skilled optometrists and vision technicians. Each centre will follow standardised clinical protocols to drive efficiencies and quality assurance across the network. Patients who require specialised treatment will be referred to the nearest ASG Eye Hospital for further treatment.
The first 50 vision centres have already begun operations across Patna, Gaya, Hajipur, Katihar, Muzaffarpur, Darbhanga, Bhagalpur and Nalanda. The rest will be operational over the next 45 days to reach their target of 200 by mid-August.
