SCB 'Seeing is believing' fund-raiser set to launch

STANDARD Chartered Bank (SCB) will be holding its "Seeing is Believing" fund-raising event on November 6 to raise community awareness on the importance of "taking the matter of eye health into their own hands", Andy Ang, SCB's Premium Banking General Manager, has announced.

Ang said that the event will allow the participants to get closer to the cause by allowing them to experience one of the many challenges faced by the visually impaired.

"Interested parties are encouraged to come with a partner where one will be blindfolded and the other will guide the blindfolded through a meal," he said during yesterday's one-day exhibition and public eye-screening event at the bank's Gadong branch. Tickets to the event are available for purchase at $20 per person at the SCB's Gadong, Manggis and Kuala Belait branches whereby 100 per cent of the proceeds from ticket sales will be given to the "Seeing is Believing" programme.

"SCB has a strong focus on the issues of avoidable blindness. Through its 'Seeing is Believing' programme, born more than six years ago, the bank has been relentlessly raising funds through the efforts of its staff to help restore vision to more than 1 million people across the globe, making a huge impact and difference on the lives of many," said the general manager.

To date, SCB has raised over USD17 million globally and is on course to impact over 11 million people across 20 countries by 2010. The bank's latest commitment is to invest a further US$20 million to develop comprehensive, sustainable eye care for 20 million people in underprivileged areas of 20 cities across the world.

Ang informed the participants that globally, a person goes blind every second, a child goes blind every minute, adding that as many as 75 per cent of blindness is avoidable.

"Avoidable blindness is a key issue in the markets where SCB operates in and 90 per cent of avoidable blindness occurs in the developing world. This is an economic issue as well as a health issue," he said.

Similar sentiment was echoed by Senior Nursing Officer (Eye) Hj Maidin Hj Abd Hamid. "The main problem with blindness is that most of these global cases are preventable, like diabetes," he said.

The Eye Department of the Raja Isteri Pengiran Anak Saleha (RIPAS) Hospital was on hand to conduct the free public eye-screening, held to commemorate World Sight Day which was celebrated on October 9.

To officiate the ceremony, Ang, who had undergone eye-test training as part of SCB's recent staff voluntary exercise, tested the vision of guest of honour Director General of Medical Services Dr Hjh Norlila Dato Paduka Hj Abd Jalil.

The Brunei Times