Overseas Infrastructure Alliance (India) Pvt. Ltd. held a Foundation Stone Laying Ceremony of the OIA India Eye Care Centre on 4th August 2009 at the Zewditu Memorial Hospital Campus in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

The Foundation Stone of OIA India Eye Care Centre was laid by H. E. Mr. Girma Wolde-Giorgis, Hon. President of the Federal Republic of Ethiopia and present on the occasion were H. E. Mr. Gurjit Singh, Ambassador of India to Ethiopia, H. W. Mr Kuma Demeksa, Mayor of the City Administration of Addis Ababa, H. E. Dr. Kebede Worku, Health State Minister, Dr. Hassan Nuru, Head, City Government of Addis Ababa Health Bureau.

OIA team was led by its Chairman, Ambassador V. B. Soni, Director, International Operation, Mr. Austine Sequeira and OIA India Eye Care Centre Trustee, Mr Advait Chaturvedi.

The above Ceremony marked the historic beginning of building a state-of-the-art Eye Care Hospital in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

OIA India Eye Care Centre initiative has been a common dream of OIA and Mrs. Neeru Singh, wife of Ambassador Gurjit Singh, who has been instrumental in conceiving this noble cause of building a holistic eye care centre and this Foundation Stone Laying Ceremony marks the first step towards OIA’s resolve to complete this project on time and provide state-of-the-art facilities to the People of Ethiopia.

H. E. Mr Wolde-Giorgis, Hon. President of Ethiopia, in his speech mentioned that close to 1.3 million blind people live in Ethiopia, most of them lost their sight though the cases could have been prevented. He said that there was a severe shortage of health facilities and eye care specialists that offer medium to large scale services in the country and building an Ophthalmology centre would certainly help the cause.  He lauded Ambassador Gurjit Singh, his wife Mrs Neeru Singh and Overseas Infrastructure Alliance (India) Pvt. Ltd. for this initiative confirming the ever-strengthening people-to-people ties between Ethiopia and India.

There were speeches by H. W. Mr. Kuma Demeksa, Mayor of Addis Ababa City Administration, Ambassador Gurjit Singh, Ambassador of India to Ethiopia, Dr. Kebede Worku,  and Dr. Hassan Nuru, who all stressed the need of such Eye Care Centres in Ethiopia.

OIA Chairman, Ambassador Soni, in his keynote speech, spoke about the Company’s plan of establishing an Eye Care Centre offering out-patient services with modern diagnostic services facilities, minor and major operation theatres, in-patient services and administrative office.  Mr Soni said that the Eye Care Centre would also be a tremendous resource for strengthening the capacities of the existing specialized Eye Care Centres.  He also informed about OIA India Eye Care Centre’s proposed plan to set up facilities in the field of Cataract, Refractive Error, Pediatric Ophthalmology, Glaucoma, Medical Retina  and Cornea in Phase I and how in Phase II, the specialization will be broadened to cover Orbit & Occuloplasty, Retina Surgery, Low Vision, Uvea, Lasik and Training Centre.

The Event began with Lighting of the Lamp and Tree Planting Ceremonies by the Hon. President of Ethiopia, Mayor of Addis Ababa, Health State Minister, Ambassador of India to Ethiopia and OIA Chairman, Amb. V. B. Soni followed by the Foundation Stone Laying and unveiling the billboard Ceremonies.

The Mayor of Addis Ababa also presented the Land Approval Certificate to Mr. Advait Chaturvedi and Mr. Udayan Mukherjee, Trustees of OIA Eye Care Centre.

The OIA India Eye Care Centre’s dream is to start its full-fledged operations by 2010 and plans to see 100,000 patients and perform 10,000 sight restoring eye surgeries per year.  The primary objective is to train the local eye care professionals to build local human resource capacities for addressing the huge need in eye care. It plans to have technical collaboration with Indian Centre of Excellence in Eye Care and OIA’s ultimate goal is to become a Centre of Excellence in eye care for Ethiopia and the African Continent.

The Foundation Stone Laying Ceremony was widely covered by the Local and National Print and Electronic Media and the most prominent Media Companies who covered the Event were: