An eminent ophthalmologist in Jharkhand and Eastern Indian, Dr.Bharti Kashyap, is a one woman army continues her battle against preventable blindness in rural Jharkhand over the past three decades. With pioneering screening models of treatment, she is now at the forefront in saving lives of thousands of women from pelvic inflammatory diseases and cervical cancer, the major killer of women, worldwide.
Highlights
1. Conferred Nari Shakti Puraskar, 2017 by Honorable President of India.
2. Best child and family welfare social worker in Jharkhand.
3. Cervical cancer campaigner in Jharkhand.
4. Eye donation and vision for Jharkhand campaigner.
5. Completed eye screening of 20 lakh government school going poor children by low cost mobile vision center model
6. Evolved Jharkhand model and achieved the target of screening 3 lakhs reproductive age group women suffering from pelvic inflammatory disease.
Every week, Dr.Bharti Kashyap, remains busy performing complex ophthalmic surgeries at her hospital – Kashyap Memorial Eye Hospital, Ranchi, that she founded along with her ophthalmologist husband, Dr.B.P.Kashyap.
When not in her surgeon’s attire, she is busy organising eye camps throughout the rural areas of Jharkhand, even travelling to more difficult areas to reach out to people , conducting eye screening for students of government schools, helping dropouts to rejoin schools, breaking myths surrounding eye donations, combating Cervical Cancer by organising Mega Women Health Camps and Cervical Cancer Screening Camps across Jharkhand and empowering women to take better control over their lives and the lives of their daughters.
Her dedicated service to the society has won her many accolades – Nari Shakti Puraskar 2017 by Ho’ble President of India for outstanding contribution towards women empowerment and a record 5 Awards by Indian Medical Association, New Delhi – Med Achievers Award, Doctor of the Year Award, Jyoti Prasad Ganguly award, Kanak Goel Award and Dr. A K N Sinha Rashtriya Samman. She was one of the 6 women invited by Hon’ble Narendra Modi at Chai pe Charcha, organized to focus on women empowerment on International Women’s Day 2014.
On the world stage, Dr.Kashyap has been conferred The British Excellence Award 2018, Recognition Award by American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery foundation 2017 and Recognition Awards by Service Beyond Borders, USA, for extraordinary contribution for the years 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018.
On the organization front, Dr.Bharti Kashyap acts as Director and Medical Director, Kashyap Memorial Eye hospital & eye Bank, Co-Chairperson, Women Doctors’ Wing, IMA HQ. Chairperson, Women Doctors’ Wing, IMA Jharkhand, Chairman, Scientific Committee, Jharkhand Ophthalmological Society, Secretary, Women Ophthalmologists Society, Jharkhand Chapter, President, International Society of Manual Small Incision Cataract Surgeons, Jharkhand Chapter and Secretary, Ranchi Ophthalmic Forum.
Combatting blindness in Rural Jharkhand
It all began in 1995, when, fresh out of medical college, she conducted the first ever eye screening of some 10,000 children, enrolled in state run schools, at Ramgarh, 45 kms away from Ranchi. The results of the sample eye screening even startled her - rampant Vitamin A deficiency , high incidence of eye infections, squints, lazy eye, uncorrected refractive errors and use of wrong eye glasses, congenital cataract. Parents of children, simply forced their children to drop out of schools.
Realising that Jharkhand was on the threshold of a sight threatening epidemic , Dr Kashyap put in place a multi pronged offensive. While she plunged herself in screening the eyes of children studying in state run schools and organising free eye camps across Jharkhand, she began to train teachers working in State run schools on primary vision testing, detection of cataracts, refractive errors, lazy eyes, squints, vitamin A deficiency etc, thus creating a pool of trained hands to jointly combat the growing incidence of blindness.
Creating a Low Cost Mobile Vision Centre Model
An used four wheeler was converted into a Low Cost Vision Testing Centre to spearhead Dr.Bharti Kashyap’s offensive against rural blindness. In her own words “ Buying a new air conditioned van and converting it into a Mobile refraction and eye examination Centre was out of my reach . As an alternative, a used four wheeler was got ready to act as a mobile refraction and eye examination unit, to carry portable eye testing equipments and ferry me and other optometrists, trained by me, to remote locations and Eye Camp sites”.
Till date, Dr.Kashyap and her team of trained school teachers together, have screened the eyes of more than 20 lakh school children, enrolled in state run schools across Jharkhand.
As a result of Dr.Kashyap’s creative efforts, thousands of school children, who had once dropped out of schools, happily rejoined their schools, after their eyes were cured by free spectacles or cataract surgery.
Not only school children, Dr.Kashyap’s list of beneficiaries also included primitive tribes, victims of human trafficking, newspaper hawkers, diabetics, old age home residents, slum dwellers, spastics to sportswomen and truck drivers.
Breaking religious and social myths surrounding eye donations
To break the taboo of Eye donations Dr Bharti Kashyap and her eminent ophthalmologist Husband, Dr.Birendra Prasad Kashyap launched the first ever eye donation campaign way back in the 1990s in the then unified Bihar Jharkhand, to dispel hesitation regarding eye donation. Their efforts bore fruit, when on 4th January 1996, they received the first posthumous eye donation of Late Hari Shankar Prasad in the state.
Later they got institutional membership from Eye Bank Association of India in year 2002 for Kashyap Memorial Eye Bank which was also founded the same year. Since then, Dr.Kashyap duo has been regularly organising innovative programmes – from organizing painting competitions in schools on eye donations to holding annual Run For Vision and even Blindfolded Marathons to encourage people from all walks of life and their families to donate the eyes of their dear ones, after their demise.
As a result of Dr.Kashyap’s innovative endeavours, Kashyap Memorial Eye Bank, Ranchi, has till date performed around 1000 cornea transplants till date mostly free of cost.
Jyot Se Jyot Jalao Campaign for Diabetic Retinopathy
In 2018-2019, Dr.Bharti Kashyap, in her position as Chairperson, Scientific Committee, Jharkhand Ophthalmological Society (JHOS) contributed data of the highest number of 1000 diabetic patients from urban, rural and hilly areas of Jharkhand at the pan India Diabetic Retinopathy Project helping the All India Ophthalmological Society to draw up a management protocol of diabetic retinopathy .
Battle Against Cervical Cancer, Evolving Jharkhand Model
The four pronged crusade included empowering women of Jharkhand, making a large network of trained gynaecologists across Jharkhand, strengthening the government infrastructure, making low cost yet effective jharkhand model.
In 2014, after being elected Chairperson, Women Doctors’ Wing, Indian Medical Association, Jharkhand, Dr.Kashyap galvanised fellow women doctors to launch the first ever major offensive in Jharkhand, against Cervical Cancer, the big killer of women, worldwide. Dr.Kashyap led the Women Doctors Wing to organise series of Mega Women Health Camps, throughout the rural areas and in State run Sadar Hospitals of Jharkhand focusing on Cervical Cancer detection and treatment, at the camp sites.
At all Mega Women Health camps, women were educated on nutrition, genital hygiene, multiple pregnancies and evils of pushing their girl child into early marriages, thus empowering women, particularly rural women need to take better care of themselves and their daughters. In 2015, realising that much was needed to be done in very short time periods, Dr.Kashyap got in touch with top Gynae-Oncologists to impart training to all government sector Gynaecologists on use of Digital Video Colposcope and cryo machine for early detection and cure of cervical pre cancer. Due to Dr.Kashyap's relentless campaign against cervical cancer, 14 government hospitals across Jharkhand have now been equipped with digital colposcope and Cryo set for detection and cure of cervical cancer. Dr.Kashyap's major contribution in the field of women empowerment and her battle against cervical cancer was in 2021, when in association with the state Health Department and after discussions with renowned Gynae Oncologists from all over the country, evolved a unique low cost yet effective “Jharkhand Model”, by making suitable modifications to WHO strategy of cervical cancer eradication strategy, to kick start a state wide war against cervical cancer, the largest killer of women, worldwide
While the WHO 90 70 90 strategy insisted on vaccination of 90% young women till 19 years of age and screening of 70% reproductive age group women by hitech methods, screening and treatment of 90% women suffering from pelvic inflammatory disease,Dr Kashyap picked up third part and created the Jharkhand Model which focused on screening and treatment of 100 percent women suffering from pelvic inflammatory disease. For that mandatory screening of targeted six percent women in the reproductive age group was suggested who have suggestive symptoms of pelvic inflammatory disease or who are from high risk category for cervical cancer .The Jharkhand model also suggested mandatory screening of all women turning up at State Sadar Hospitals for three months post delivery check ups along with their accompanying female relatives if they have suggestive symptoms or are from high risk category for cervical cancer to achieve the desired goal of a cervical cancer free Jharkhand, within a fixed time frame.
Dr.Kashyap’s efforts bore fruit after the State Government accepted her recommendations of a “Jharkhand Model” in toto in 2021 and directed holding of screening camps twice in a month in all districts and even went a step further to fixed cervical cancer monthly and annual screening targets for each district based on their population by all state run Hospitals.
A review meeting of the State Health, health, medical education and family welfare department held on November 23, 2023, while acknowledging the contributions of Dr.Kashyap and the Women Doctors Wing IMA Jharkhand led by her , agreed to make Women Doctors Wing, the official partner of the National Health Mission in cervical cancer eradication programme in Jharkhand. For the first time, 2,90,187 reproductive age group women in the symptomatic and high risk categories throughout the state, have been screened for cervical cancer, the big killer of women worldwide, between April 2021 and november 2023, against a target of 2,70,684 .The Jharkhand Model carved by Dr.Bharti Kashyap is evolving as the gold standard in Cervical Cancer eradication. As a result of Dr.Kashyap’s initiatives, Jharkhand, today, is fast on its way to becoming the first cervical cancer free state in the country.
