Structured as a Social Business Enterprise, Facility Can Potentially Grow
To Perform 50,000 Examinations, 10,000 Cataract Operations Annually
DHAKA, Bangladesh, May 2 -- The first Grameen Green
Children Eye Hospital, projected to perform 50,000 eye examinations and
10,000 cataract operations annually, will be opened by 2006 Nobel Peace
Prize laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus and the Hon'ble Adviser, Incharge
of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Bangladesh at 4:00 PM on Monday,
May 12.
The international pop music duo Milla Sunde and Tom Bevan of The Green
Children raised $500,000 from donations and CD/DVD sales for the first eye
hospital in Bangladesh. The two highly talented musicians are committed to
working to raise funds for a second eye hospital that will require a total
of about $1 million to complete.
The Grameen Green Children Eye Hospitals, modeled after the highly
successful Aravind eye hospitals in India, will be structured as social
business enterprises described in the new book by Professor Yunus, Creating
a World Without Poverty: Social Business and the Future of Capitalism. The
Aravind system in India currently does 1.7 million examinations and 250,000
operations a year.
Once the first eye hospital fully operational, it will work to become
self-sustaining gradually and perform a projected 50,000 eye examinations
and 10,000 cataract operations per year.
Both hospitals will charge patients based on their ability to pay, with
wealthier clients charged at a normal rate and the poor at subsidized.
Everyone will receive the same high-quality treatment. While all patients
will be expected to pay something, no one will be denied care. Those with
no funds will be asked to pay later, when they can and at free of charge in
extreme cases.
The key to the success of the model is a system that delivers very high
quality and standard eye care services at an affordable cost by using high
volume and having highly trained technicians doing most of the examination
and preparation work so that ophthalmologists can focus on the operations.
The model has been so successful in India that representatives of some of
the leading medical schools in the United States have visited Aravind to
bring some of the lessons learned back home.
A rising international band, The Green Children recently signed to the
world's largest music label, Universal Music Group. The duo comprises Milla
Sunde from Norway and Tom Bevan from England. Their debut record with
Universal Records will be launched later this year. In addition to their
flourishing music career, Tom and Milla have been working for several years
with the foundation they jointly established.
The Green Children Foundation supports microcredit, education and
healthcare and is focused on engaging young people in supporting positive
and effective solutions to conquer world poverty. For further information,
please visit http://www.thegreenchildren.org.
In 2006, The Green Children made their second trip to Bangladesh to
film a music video for their song "Hear Me Now," which tells the story of a
successful women borrower of Grameen Bank. This video has been used in
fundraising for the eye hospitals and will receive a world wide release
later this year.
Grameen Bank, and the concept and methodology of microcredit that it
has elaborated through its 30 years of work, have contributed to enhancing
the chances of peace by reducing poverty. Grameen Bank Project was founded
by Professor Yunus in the village of Jobra, Bangladesh, in 1976. In 1983 it
was transformed into a formal bank under a special law passed for its
creation. It is owned by the poor borrowers of the bank who are mostly
women. It works exclusively for them. Borrowers of Grameen Bank at present
own 94 per cent of the total equity of the bank. Remaining 6 percent is
owned by the government. Dr. Yunus and the Grameen Bank jointly received
the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway, in December 2006.
