“I come from a very large lower middle-class family, and nobody had time to see whether I needed glasses or not. When I was around 15, someone said to me, Manu, I think you need glasses, and took me to their uncle’s optical shop, and holy gods—everything improved for me. This is what we want to solve…this same story for millions in the poorest part of India, Africa, and even Southern California.”
Growing up in a rural village in Gujarat, India, Manu Shah hadn’t realized that his struggles in school were due to poor vision. With his new glasses, Manu could see clearly, and his academic performance improved dramatically. This personal experience ignited a lifelong passion in Shah to help others who, like he once did, face the challenge of living, learning, and prospering without good vision.
A successful entrepreneur who grew MS International from a basement startup to a 3,000-person organization earning $2.8 billion annually, Shah nurtured a lifelong passion for revolutionizing access to vision care he is now putting into action through his Sarva Mangal Family Trust (SMFT). His goal is not just to bring vision care to underserved communities but to do it on a massive scale. “Today, our aim is to provide screenings to 20 million people and we anticipate donating around 5 million free eyeglasses to people in need.”
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Shah’s vision care initiative is rooted in a strategy that focuses on speed, cost reduction, and leveraging technology to achieve impact at greater scale and in less time than most other initiatives have attempted. The challenge is immense: in India alone, there are over 600,000 villages with no optical shops or nearby eye care services. Without affordable and accessible eye exams and glasses, millions of people are left to struggle with preventable vision issues.
His strategy is built on two main pillars, each informed by innovation and pragmatism: A well-trained and highly motivated network of local care delivery partners, and innovative technology to make clinical-quality vision care available outside well-resourced health centers.
Collaborating with local NGOs means he can select partners who are familiar with the communities’ needs, resources, and challenges. The Trust provides material resources and training to effectively evaluate people’s vision and provide appropriate correction efficiently. They do pilot programs to perfect their process, then scale. “Our partners know the ground reality. We don’t dictate how to fight their war from 10,000 miles away. We try everything we can to help them and to learn from their experiences,” says Shah.
Embracing innovative technologies, such as the PlenOptika handheld wavefront autorefractor QuickSee Free, the Trust aims to close the care gap between high- and low-resources communities. They partnered with PlenOptika to accelerate QuickSee Free’s time to market and to drive its widespread adoption—itself a bold strategy for a conservative industry slow to invest in innovation. With technology, NGO teams can provide objective refraction exams equivalent to those provided by expensive, desktop-bound devices that cost three times as much, and see hundreds of people a day. They can quickly screen out people who don’t need correction, identify the prescriptions for people who do, and refer people with other eye health or vision problems that require medical care such as cataract surgeries. In most cases, they prescribe eyeglasses from QuickSee Free measurements except in rare cases when they find subjective refraction is needed and available.
Patients in Dharampur, India getting objective refraction with the QuickSee Free wavefront aberrometer.
At top: Local partners recruit patients, who gather at temporary exam sites where trained teams perform refraction and other eye health tests.
Leading much of this work in India is ophthalmologist Bijal Mehta, who brings 25 years of clinical experience and a deep commitment to improving rural health services. As a Trustee of Shrimad Rajchandra Love & Care, a nonprofit based in Gujarat, India, Dr Mehta leads the project in India, including its overall clinical design and national implementation. She has been pivotal in expanding the initiative’s reach, overseeing operations that impacted over 150,000 people in 2023. Her goal is to reach 1 million people by the end of 2024 and 6 million by 2025 by growing their partnership network and refining their execution.
“90% of blindness in India is due to cataracts or refractive error,” she says. “This is preventable blindness. But most people don’t even know they can’t see as well as they could. It’s such a low cost, high impact intervention.”
Mehta’s leadership is characterized by her focus on delivering high-quality care while scaling operations efficiently. She organizes school screenings, community outreach, and special eye camps in rural areas. Her team plans screening sessions months in advance, working with local health workers to spread awareness about upcoming camps. At these camps, they screen as many as 700 people a day, ensuring those with vision impairments receive glasses as soon as possible—some on the spot, and a short time later for more complex prescriptions.
One of Mehta’s key lessons has been the importance of accurate refraction. She insists that all screenings use proper refraction techniques, even for community outreach, to ensure that patients receive the correct prescription. QuickSee Free, which doesn’t require a dark room or specialized setup, has been crucial for delivering high-quality eye care in remote areas. Mehta finds the device’s fogging lenses particularly useful for children, leading to more accurate prescriptions.
Mehta’s team follows up with schools to monitor how students are using their glasses and addresses any issues. Community health workers also check in with patients in their villages to ensure glasses are being worn and are effective. This follow-up system helps maintain the long-term success of the vision care program.
The vision care gap is not found only in developing countries. The Trust also serves its home community around Los Angeles in collaboration with Dr. Yamam Almouradi.
Dr. Almouradi co-founded *Sight and Sketches* in 2016 to provide free vision care to underserved communities and refugees, both in Southern California and via mission trips in places like Turkey and Egypt. Since then, the nonprofit has helped over 76,000 people by offering vision screenings, eye exams, and prescription glasses to those who would otherwise lack access to these services.
“We started small,” says Dr. Almouradi. “It’s tough to get funding when no one knows your name. But don’t let that stop you. Just do what you can.” Today, Sight and Sketches serves around 11,000 people annually in Southern California, focusing on communities in Orange County and Los Angeles.
In a typical day, the process begins with vision screening for participants. Patients who need further attention receive a full exam, choose frames, and are fitted for custom glasses delivered shortly afterward. For more serious conditions, such as cataracts, patients are referred to local specialists or low-cost clinics. “We adapt our approach depending on where we are and the resources available,” Dr. Almouradi explains. “In some places, we come back for exams; in others, we do everything in one visit to maximize impact.”
Since late 2023, Sight and Sketches volunteers have been using the QuickSee Free autorefractor. This portable device has improved the speed and accuracy of their screenings. “It has really boosted our efficiency,” she says. “It’s portable and easy to use, and it doesn’t rely on patient feedback, which is especially helpful when working with non-English-speaking patients.”
Education is another critical part of the process. “Many adults don’t know how conditions like diabetes affect their eyes. We make sure they leave not only with glasses but with a better understanding of their health,” she says. Dr. Almouradi believes in starting small: “Helping just one person see better can change their life—and the lives of their family. Baby steps make a big difference.”
By returning to the same communities year after year, Sight and Sketches builds trust, ensuring lasting impact. “When people remember us and bring their family, that’s when we know we’re making a real difference,” Dr. Almouradi reflects.
Dr Mehta’s team trains local groups on the vision exam procedures, including how to use QuickSee Free effectively for fast and accurate autorefraction results.
Shah’s and Mehta’s efforts have already had a significant impact. To date, they have screened 500,000 individuals in India, providing 61,000 of them with eyeglasses. In addition, 5,000 people have been referred to hospitals for cataract treatment. The initiative has also expanded to Africa, where they screened 75,000 people across Ghana, Cameroon, and Nigeria, providing glasses to 60,000 of them.
Their success has been driven by their focus on efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and leveraging local partnerships. Shah estimates that their impact will quadruple by the end of 2024 as they continue to refine their processes and expand their network of NGO partners. In India alone, they plan to have 16 new NGO partners by the end of the year.
Looking ahead, Shah is committed to scaling the initiative across all of India’s states, expanding further into Africa, and deepening its impact in the United States. The ambitious plan aims to bring vision care to millions of people who currently have no access to such services. The collaboration between the Trust and PlenOptika is driven by shared passion to radically expand access to vision care through technology and data-driven process innovation. As they continue to innovate and build partnerships, they are well on their way to achieving their vision of a world where no one’s potential is limited by poor eyesight.
“Our vision is of a world where no one is held back by poor vision, regardless of their socioeconomic status,” says Shah. “With each pair of eyeglasses, we change a life, whether that’s a child who can see the blackboard clearly, an adult who can work effectively and safely, or an elder who can live independently.”•
QuickSee Free produces objective refraction measurements, which caregivers use while performing other steps in their patients’ exams. After the exam patients are given appropriate eyeglasses.
*The intended use of QuickSee Free is to objectively measure a patient’s refractive errors, to provide a starting point for subjective refraction performed by a vision care professional.
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