The family with cataract

Father to seven children, Sanjesh Yadav lives with his wife, Chandrakala in Vidisha district, Madhya Pradesh and earns little wage working as a contract labourer.

Yadav and his wife already suffered from cataract since childhood. Little did they know that this would also be a cause of bother for six of their seven children, plus the non-cataract affected child suffering from colobama. The three sisters, Anshu, Muskan and Simi were identified by Sightsavers’ Programme’s team and during the primary screening it was found that they had cataract. The girls were further referred to the base hospital for a detailed examination.

Sightsavers’ team visited the girls’ house when they did not turn up after the referral. It was then found out that the three girls’
parents, Sanjesh and Chandrakala had been suffering from cataract too. It came to light that Anshu had previously got her left eye operated in a nearby district hospital. As there was no improvement in her sight, Anshu’s parents confessed to have lost their trust in the eye health care system. After continuous persistence, the parents finally agreed to get their children operated. Chandrakala was overwhelmed to see her daughters having gone through a successful cataract operation while getting their eyesight back. The family looks forward to having a bright future with their vision being restored.