DHAKA, Dec 30, 2024 (BSS) - Standard Chartered Bangladesh and Ispahani 
Islamia Eye Institute & Hospital (IIEI&H) have partnered to set up 71 
comprehensive Eye Health Camps for adult beneficiaries and 1,667 Student 
Sight Testing Programmes (SSTP) for school-going children.
 
The initiative will reach 10,000 adults across the capital and 250,000 
students across Naogaon, Jamalpur, Barishal, Borguna and Moulvibazar 
districts. The initiative will also support the transportation of surgery 
patients and provide beneficiaries with eyewear, optics, and essential 
medicine, said a press release here today.

Standard Chartered and Ispahani Islamia Eye Institute & Hospital have been 
working together for more than 20 years to prevent avoidable blindness. 

Through this partnership, Standard Chartered Bangladesh is addressing the 
needs of marginalised and vulnerable groups through targeted interventions 
and service expansion, both in terms of technology and infrastructure 
investments, and through upskilling and training of eye-health workers.

Naser Ezaz Bijoy, chief executive officer (CEO) of Standard Chartered 
Bangladesh, said, "We feel privileged to be able to partner with Ispahani 
Islamia Eye Institute and Hospital in this journey, a journey that inspired a 
global programme that touched over 250 million lives worldwide."

Brigadier General AKM Akhtaruzzaman (Retd), CEO of Ispahani Islamia Eye 
Institute & Hospital (IIEI&H), said, "We are committed to bring impactful 
change in the lives of our patients with the gift of sight and we are 
thankful for the constant support Standard Chartered has provided us with for 
more than 20 years."

The Bank's flagship community engagement programme, Futuremakers by Standard 
Chartered, is dedicated to helping the next generation to learn, earn and 
grow. 

Futuremakers, builds on the legacy of the Bank's previous flagship community 
programme - Seeing is Believing (SiB). 

Between 2003 to 2020, the initiative reached 250 million people-changing 
their lives for the better by helping to tackle avoidable blindness around 
the world.
 
Islamia Eye Institute and Hospital is the birthplace of SiB. Hand-in-hand, 
the Bank and the Eye Institute have been able to change lives for the better 
across the country.