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Singer's Love of Her Country is Music to the Eyes
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ORBIS Sight Ambassador Momtaz Begum
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She is one of her country’s most prolific storytellers, translating the lives of the rural and urban poor into captivating songs of the human spirit. And today, two decades into a career that has produced an astonishing 700 albums and made her an international musical icon, Momtaz Begum has begun nurturing the eye as well as the ear, by funding a namesake hospital that, with ORBIS support, is helping to tackle the world’s leading cause of blindness – cataract.
The 50-bed Momtaz Eye Hospital, in the Manikganj district of central Bangladesh, was founded by the singer in memory of her father, Modhu Boyati, himself a much-loved recording artist. As a little girl, Momtaz remembers her father’s beautiful voice singing to her and his blind eyes that couldn’t see. He suffered from cataracts, and his family suffered, too, unable to raise enough money for his cure. Though raised in poverty, Momtaz inherited a priceless gift from her father, her voice, which has brought her fame and fortune.
“When I was young I couldn’t go to school to pursue higher studies, but I thought ‘I can sing, I can help people through my singing.’”
She founded Momtaz Eye Hospital to give back to the people of Manikganj who otherwise would not be able to afford health care.
Financing the people
Lack of financial means keeps millions of cataract sufferers around the world from seeking treatment. Lack of awareness that cataracts can be surgically removed, through a relatively simple procedure, prevents still more from even questioning the permanence of their blindness. An innovative ORBIS project in Manikganj district is providing solutions to both obstacles.
Momtaz Eye Hospital is one of three area hospitals participating in demand-side financing projects that aim to eliminate 100 percent of cataract blindness among its population of more than 1.2 million. If successful, the project will make Manikganj the first district in the country to achieve that level of progress against cataract, a condition that has long stymied eye care professionals because of economic and cultural barriers to corrective surgery.
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Bangladeshi bookbinder Abdur Razzaq (left) receives a voucher for cataract surgery from a primary health care worker who received training in basic eye care. Abdur will likely redeem his voucher at Momtaz Eye Hospital, which is near his book-binding stall and has an excellent reputation for good cataract service.
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Through the project, more than 400 primary health care workers in the district received training in 2008 to diagnose cataracts with the use of a simple flashlight and vision chart. Each then took their newfound knowledge on house-to-house rounds, where they identified candidates for surgery and provided them with vouchers to cover the cost at one of the participating hospitals.
As newly-healed patients returned to their families and neighborhoods, other cataract sufferers learned that they, too, could have their vision restored – at no cost or on a sliding scale based on income – creating a surging demand for the procedure and generating significant income for the hospitals.
“Most ORBIS projects build capacity of partner institutions by focusing on the supply side, such as improving eye care service,” said Dr. Abu Raihan, ORBIS country director, Bangladesh. “Demand side is about financing people.”
At Momtaz Eye Hospital alone, the demand-side financing project has led to a 70 percent increase in cataract surgeries. “Before ORBIS, we performed an average of 20-30 cataract procedures per month,” said Dr. ASM Moyeen Hasan, Director General of Momtaz Hospitals. “Now we perform more than 200 per month. The difference is extraordinary.”
The increased surgical volume at Momtaz has reinvigorated the entire hospital and its staff. “Because the flow of patients has increased, we’re treating many more people than ever before – involving all kinds of surgery, not just cataract,” said Dr. Moyeen. “That, in turn, has greatly improved our financial situation.”
For Momtaz Begum, the ORBIS project is helping her fulfill a personal and professional dream to use her music and its earnings to address serious health problems facing her country.
“ORBIS has created an enabling environment for our eye hospital to accomplish all of these things and has helped us change our thinking from a charity to sustainability,” shared Momtaz. “Because of this new approach, my district will be the first in all of Bangladesh where elderly blind people are not made to wait indefinitely for cataract surgery.”
Momtaz Begum was recently appointed to parliament, the highest law-making institution in Bangladesh, selected by the government in recognition of her musical contributions and community development work. Momtaz now will be even more influential in persuading policymakers to invest in eye care.
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