Standard Chartered, Ispahani Islamia Eye Hospital celebrate 20 years of partnership

Standard Chartered and Ispahani Islamia Eye Institute and Hospital (IIEI&H) recently celebrated 20 years of a partnership dedicated to fighting avoidable blindness and visual impairment in Bangladesh. 

Through initiatives that worked towards restoring sight, testing, and preventing eye disease and raising awareness about eye health, Standard Chartered has touched millions of lives both across Bangladesh and the world, reads a press release.

Standard Chartered Bangladesh began its first eye-health intervention with Ispahani Islamia Eye Institute and Hospital in 2003. This seminal intervention sparked the Bank's previous global flagship community engagement programme "Seeing is Believing," which eventually went on to raise $104.2 million and reached 250 million people across 38 countries. Despite "Seeing is Believing" achieving its published targets and winding up in 2020, Standard Chartered Bangladesh has continued to partner with IIEI&H for various health-related community engagement programmes.

Currently, through the latest partnership the bank and IIEI&H are working together to deliver the gift of sight by setting up six comprehensive Eye Health Camps for adult beneficiaries and six Student Sight Testing Programmes (SSTP) for school-going children. As part of this interventions, the Bank has also provided IIEI&H with resources to facilitate the transportation of surgery patients and provide beneficiaries with eyewear, optics, and essential medicine. Over the last 20 years, Standard Chartered and Ispahani Islamia Eye Institute and Hospital have aided remote communities – including former enclaves – with comprehensive healthcare solutions. The Bank has also prioritised children's health in both rural and urban via the provision of strengthened low vision rehabilitation (SVR) and vision therapy (VT). This was further exemplified when the Bank made a donation of USD 1 million in 2018 to establish an Advanced Paediatric Ophthalmology Out-Patient facility at IIEI&H.

Naser Ezaz Bijoy, Chief Executive Officer, Standard Chartered Bangladesh, said, "I felt the true impact of "Seeing is Believing" during one of my visits to Ispahani Islamia Eye Institute and Hospital. I was fortunate enough to witness something truly extraordinary when a seven-year-old boy had his bandages removed and saw his mother's face for the first time in his entire life. I felt that the whole world stopped around them, in that moment. I hope that our programmes and initiatives with IIEI&H will continue to improve the lives of our beneficiaries and build a better future."

Zahida Ispahani, Advisor, Ispahani Islamia Eye Institute and Hospital, said, "Standard Chartered Bangladesh has been our partner for the last 20 years. This partnership with the Bank has enabled us to provide care to those who are disadvantaged or financially vulnerable. I want to extend a big thank you to Standard Chartered for working with us to provide countless people with quality healthcare."

As the nation's long-term partner in progress, Standard Chartered has consistently been linked to Bangladesh's inspiring story of growth and resilience. For more than 118 years, the Bank has remained dedicated to driving commerce and development by investing in communities; expanding the reach and scale of services and initiatives to promote greater inclusion; and creating new opportunities for stakeholders. The Bank's relationship with Ispahani Islamia Eye Institute and Hospital is in alignment with multiple Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) targets, such as strengthening resource mobilisation, capacity building, and enhancing the use of technology in low- and middle-income countries.