Bharti Kashyap

Kashyap was born on May 15, 1967. She studied MBBS, MS (Ophthalmology) and Fellow in Cornea. She married Birendra Prasad Kashyap who established Kashyap Memorial Eye Hospital in Ranchi, Jharkhand.[1]

Kashyap worked extensively for the education of children suffering from visual impairment such as detective cataract, refractive error, etc by providing free treatment.[2] She began social work in 1995, after discovering the increasing incidence of blindness in Jharkhand children,[3] causing high dropout rates. She conducted a sample eye screening of some 10,000 children enrolled in state run schools at Ramgarh. She organised free eye camps to address the main causes of avoidable blindness.

She completed eye screening of more than 20 lakh children enrolled in state run schools of the state. She expanded to target underprivileged people, primitive tribes, victims of human trafficking, newspaper hawkers, diabetics, old age home residents, slum dwellers, and mentally disturbed people, to sportswomen and truck drivers. Free eye camps were organised in every block and district of Jharkhand with Kashyap Memorial Eye Bank, the charitable trust that she founded. The most noticeable impact was the return of children to school after receiving free eye glasses and free phaco cataract surgery at charitable wing- Kashyap Memorial Eye Bank.

In 2015, as Chairperson, Women Doctors’ Wing Indian Medical Association, she launched the first major offensive in Jharkhand against cervical cancer, the number one killer of women, by organising a series of Mega Women Health Camps focussing on Cervical Cancer Detection and Colposcopy Guided Cryo Treatment at the camp site throughout rural Jharkhand and in State run Sadar Hospitals. Joining hands with the state health department, she helped rope in onco-gynaecologists from Kolkata and New Delhi to provide training to gynaecologists working with state health services on early detection and treatment of cervical precancer.[4]

Maneka Sanjay Gandhi talking at the presentation of the Nari Shakti Puruskar for 2017 (in 2018) - Kashyap is to the left

Her efforts, the first in Jharkhand, brought quality health care to women in rural areas, saving thousands from cervical cancer.[5] Over the past three decades, Dr Bharti Kashyap, MBBS, MS (Eye, Fellow Cornea, LVPEI) and Fellow in Cornea, has been a change agent- combating blindness in rural Jharkhand, preventing students from dropping out from schools, empowering women to take better control of their lives, to spearheading Jharkhand's campaign against cervical cancer, the big One killer of women, worldwide. It all began in 1995, when she conducted the first ever eye screening of some 10,000 children, enrolled in state run schools,[6] at Ramgarh, 45 kms away from Ranchi. The results of the sample eye screening startled her - rampant Vitamin A deficiency and a high incidence of squints, lazy eye, uncorrected refractive errors and use of wrong eye glasses, probably gifted by some generous agency. There was a very big number of school drop outs due to uncorrected refractive error and childhood cataract. To combat high school dropout rates, Dr Bharti Kashyap began organising free eye camps in every district of Jharkhand, bringing quality eye care to the door steps of people. Till now she has screened 20 lakhs poor government school going children and given free eye glasses to needy ones. For those needing surgical interventions, she ferried all, to her base hospital- Kashyap Memorial Eye Hospital at Ranchi, for free cataract removal by very advanced surgical technique, safest anesthesia and premium IOL implantation. Not only school going children, the list of beneficiaries of Dr Kashyap's numerous eye camps include primitive tribes, victims of human trafficking, newspaper hawkers, diabetics, old age home residents, slum dwellers, spastics, sportswomen and even truck drivers. The most noticeable impact has been that thousands of children who had earlier dropped out of schools, rejoined their schools, after being provided free eye care treatment including surgeries by Dr Kashyap. With their vision now fully restored, thousands of adult - men and women in rural areas are also now back to work, finding gainful occupations for themselves. To lend teeth to her fight against blindness, she has trained thousands of school teachers working in government schools all over the state, in primary eye disease and vision testing. Because of her continued efforts the first post humous eye donation happened in the unified state of Bihar and Jharkhand . She had to her credit the first cornea transplantation of state in 1996. In 2014, after being elected Chairperson, Women Doctors’ Wing, Indian Medical Association,[7] Jharkhand, Dr Bharti Kashyap Kashyap galvanised fellow women doctors to launch the first ever major offensive, against Cervical Cancer, the big killer of women, worldwide. Dr Kashyap led the Women Doctors Wing to organise series of Mega Women Health Camps, throughout the rural areas and in government run Sadar Hospitals and community health centers of Jharkhand focusing on Cervical Cancer detection and medical and colposcopy guided cryo treatment as per the need, at the camp sites. India’s top most Gynae-Oncologists were roped in by her, to help at these camps and to train government sector gynaecologists. At all Mega Health camps, women were educated to look out for early warning signs of pelvic inflammatory disease and cervical pre cancer. In 2015, realising that much was needed to be done in very short time periods, Dr Kashyap got in touch with top Gynae-Oncologists of India to impart training to all government sector Gynaecologists on use of Cryo Machines and Colposcope for early detection and cure of cervical pre cancer. Due to Dr Bhart’s relentless campaign against cervical cancer, 14 government hospitals across Jharkhand have now been equipped with digital colposcope and Cryo set for detection and cure of pelvic inflammatory disease and cervical pre cancer. Dr Bharti Kashyap's major contribution in the field of women empowerment and her battle against cervical cancer was in 2021, when she successfully convinced the state government to agree to her proposal of evolving an easier to implement a "Jharkhand Model", a multi pronged low cost yet effective strategy, modifying the 3rd part of WHO 2030 strategy of cervical cancer elimination, to suit Jharkhand's requirements. Dr Bharti Kashyap's "Jharkhand Model" suggested screening of at least 6 percent women in the reproductive age group, having symptoms of pelvic inflammation which included screening of women three months post delivery and accompanying female relatives, turning up at government hospitals for check ups. The screening target fixed was 2 lakh 70 thousand women of reproductive age group suffering from pelvic inflammatory disease. From April 2021 till August 2023, in Jharkhand, for the first time, 2,63,672 women of reproductive age group were screened suffering from pelvic inflammatory disease and high risk category for cervical cancer. The Jharkhand Model made by Dr Bharti Kashyap is evolving as the gold standard in Cervical Cancer eradication.

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