HOW WAS SPECS CONCEIVED
In the early 1980s, the state of Meghalaya, located in the north-eastern part of India, was still in its primitive stage and was way behind in terms of infrastructure and eye care service. Plagued by poverty, illiteracy, predominant practice of quackery treatment, inadequate means of transport and road infrastructure and development in all districts; these issues and challenges act as deterrents in delivering eye care service in the state of Meghalaya.
THE STORY OF CHANGE
At a time when public transport was not available in most parts of Meghalaya and private transport was few and usually available only during market days, it discouraged many patients suffering from eye related problem to pursue treatment from medical institutions located predominantly in Shillong. Besides, the lack of trained man power or human resource in the field of optometry and the lack of eye care service and centres, further dissuades patients from pursuing treatment. They would then resort to quackery With a view to help people suffering from eye related problem and in pursuit of ways to make eye service accessible and the cost of eye treatment affordable, Society for Promotion of Eye Care & Sight (SPECS) was formed as a non-profitable society and was registered on 17th August 1992 under The Society Registration Act 7 of 1990 No. SR/SFPOECAS-455/92 of 1992.
HOW WAS IT PLANNED?
SPECS is a result of a movement in the city of Shillong (Meghalaya) by individuals belonging to different educational, professional and religious background concerned with the plight of the stiffening eye patients and visually impaired patients. After several planning, sessions and meetings, the constitution of the Society containing the memorandum was passed and the Society was registered on 17th August 1992.
HOW WAS IT IMPLEMENTED?
The mission statement of SPECS which is, "To care for the people with sight problems by preventive, curative and rehabilitative measures, working with the motto of passion with compassion for all the people who need eye care services" was realized by means of collaboration and partnership along with the Government, NGOs and private organization sharing the same goal of making the state of Meghalaya Avoidable Blindness Free. In an effort to curb avoidable blindness in the state of Meghalaya, Society for Promotion of Eye Care & Sight (SPECS) in collaboration with Bansara Eye Care Centre have conducted a total of 4000 free surgeries during the span of 20 years between 1980 to 2000. Subsequently, in the years to follow, SPECS in association with Bansara Eye Care Centre have successfully conducted a total of 4142 surgeries as on 2001-02 to 31st July 2018. A record number of 621 free eye surgeries were conducted in the year 2010-11.
The graph above illustrates the number of free surgeries conducted by SPECS in collaboration with Bansara Eye Care Centre.
As for the number of outreach camps organized between the financial years of 2001-02 to 2017-18, a total of 2473 camps were conducted in association with Bansara Eye Care Centre benefitting a total number of 1,61,186 patients who attended the eye camps with the highest being on 2017-18 with 26420 patients screened.
3,033
Eye camps conducted in the state of Meghalaya.
2,10,139
Patients served through eye camps.
17,772
Total number of surgeries performed.
Below is a table which highlights the number of outreach camps held between the financial years of 2001-02 to 2017-18 reflecting the number of patients screened.
| Years | Outreach Camp | Outreach OPD |
| 2002-03 | 10 | 497 |
| 2003-04 | 14 | 688 |
| 2004-05 | 24 | 2633 |
| 2005-06 | 28 | 2910 |
| 2006-07 | 32 | 3203 |
| 2007-08 | 36 | 3531 |
| 2008-09 | 44 | 3862 |
| 2009-10 | 63 | 6237 |
| 2010-11 | 64 | 6952 |
| 2011-12 | 203 | 10200 |
| 2012-13 | 198 | 11185 |
| 2013-14 | 240 | 12863 |
| 2014-15 | 412 | 20076 |
| 2015-16 | 374 | 24499 |
| 2016-17 | 329 | 24998 |
| 2017-18 | 393 | 26420 |
As for the patient demographic in terms of Meghalaya’s districts, a graphical representation is given below
Outreach Camps
During the period of 2014-2017, we conducted as many as 1115 eye camps in 5 districts of Meghalaya where we were able to screen a total of 69573 patients. The said districts include East Khasi Hills, Jaintia Hills, West Khasi Hills, Ri Bhoi and Garo Hills. The total number of camp along with the number of patients screened is highlighted below:
| SI No. | District of Meghalaya | No. of Eye Camps | No. of Patients |
| 1 | East Khasi Hills | 365 | 20624 |
| 2 | Jaintia Hills | 310 | 30268 |
| 3 | West Khasi Hills | 418 | 16347 |
| 4 | Ri Bhoi | 20 | 1909 |
| 5 | Garo Hills | 2 | 425 |