Blindness in many cases, especially in poor developing countries, is avoidable if resources are available to the people. In order to help the poor, DFI aims to provide eye surgeries to needy people throughout Asia, the Middle East, and South America. DFI intends to obtain United Nations recognition for its Gift of Sight program, and its goals will be in line with the World Health Organization and its VISION 20/20 (www.v2020.org) initiative to eleminate avoidable blindness. The DFI Gift of Sight program in Lebanon has been accepted for presentation during the VISION 2020 conference in Buenos Aires which was held in August 2008. DFI intends to work with local hospitals and institutions in furtherance of this activity. DFI initially intends to perform cataract and other types of eye surgeries in poor areas of India, the Middle East and South America. Once DFI has commited to a specific location, it intends to stay there for at least 10 years. DFI intends to perform 300 operations per year at each location in which it operates. The eye surgeries will be performed by surgeons and DFI will provide the medical supplies and equipment. The eye surgeries will be provided to patients free of charge.

DFI’s idea for the Gift of Sight program was born from the success of the cataract operations program of INMA Foundation (www.inmafoundation.org), a foreign non-profit organization established in 1986 in Beirut, to help the poorest of the poor in Lebanon. Robert Pelgrim, DFI’s Executive Director is a volunteer at INMA Foundation, and Samir Kreidie, one of DFI’s directors, was founder of INMA Foundation and is a member of its Board of Directors.

Dr. Janak Shah, DFI’s Secretary and one of its Directors, current performs 1,800 eye operations per year in six sites (five in India, and one in Lebanon) at no cost to the patients. Dr. Shah’s success with this program has encouraged DFI to attempt to double this number (and hopefully even more) within the next five years and to shift from cataract only operations to all kinds of eye surgeries and expand to other poor areas in India, the  Middle East, and South America.