IMPACT Foundation Lifeline

Hello.

How are you?

Not suffering from cataracts or club foot or cleft palate?

I hope not.

Of course, if you were, get it fixed by the NHS.

But, imagine living somewhere

without access to medical care.

Imagine you're living with a relatively minor disability that's

completely ruining your life.

You know there's a really simple solution, but you can't afford it.

Well, let me introduce you to IMPACT Foundation,

a brilliant charity, whose mission is to alleviate disability

by some really extraordinary means.

One of the countries where the charity operates is India.

Like eight million other people in India, Manohar has cataracts,

but he's too poor to get treatment,

leaving the father of three almost blind.

Manohar depended on his stall to support his family,

so when his double cataracts forced him to give it up,

saving for an operation became impossible.

Manohar's story is frustratingly commonplace.

Cataracts are a very simple problem to correct surgically,

by replacing the lens.

Thankfully, for Manohar,

the IMPACT Foundation has come up with an ingenious

way to reach people like him.

The Lifeline Express is a hospital on wheels.

A train that travels the length of India offering free surgery

to reverse medical conditions that would otherwise mean

a lifetime of disability.

A vital service for the 300 million people living below the poverty line

and unable to pay for an operation.

I come whenever they call me.

I really feel proud working as an eye surgeon in this train.

This month, the train has come to Manohar's hometown of Gondiya.

He's joined hundreds of others being screened for surgery.

To date, the IMPACT Foundation has performed a staggering

849,000 operations across the developing world.

One of the families desperate for help are the parents of

eight-month-old Prashansa.

Prashansa's cleft palate has made it difficult for her to eat

and maintain her weight,

but her parents also worry about her future.

Prashansa's parents have brought her to the Lifeline Express

and she's going to be one of nine cleft-lip patients

being operated on in a single day

by plastic surgeon Vijay Kumar.

The Lifeline Express is doing a great job,

because it is going in such areas where doctors are not there.

BABY CRIES

Plastic surgeons like me come here and operate

so they get good care and good surgery.

Prashansa is put under general anaesthetic

and surgery gets underway.

After an hour, Dr Kumar is nearly finished.

Now we have repaired the lip and the baby will smile

and the lip will be OK.

The parents should be happy.

Prashansa will need further operations when she's older,

but her cleft lip is well on the way to being corrected.

It's the day of Manohar's cataract surgery.

Dr Singh is getting ready to operate,

and it's a hectic schedule.

Within seven days,

around 200 surgeries have been performed.

Manohar's operation should take around ten minutes,

but his cataract is dangerously attached to his lens.

It takes all of Dr Singh's skill not to lose his eye completely.

This cataract was really very complicated.

It was tough to operate.

And let's see what will be the result tomorrow.

The following morning,

Manohar is ready to discover if his sight has finally been restored.

In the last month alone,

the Lifeline Express has transformed the lives of over 5,000 people

who were too poor to pay for treatment.

And the IMPACT Foundation doesn't just operate in India.

They have devised innovative ways of bringing life-changing surgery

to the poor all over the world.

People like Prashansa.

The thing I like most about IMPACT Foundation is it's so simple.

They take easily curable disabilities,

like cataracts and cleft palate,

and they fix them, on the spot,

and this transforms people's lives.

But of course, it all costs money.

So, if you'd like to help transform someone's life who's suffering

from a disability that's really easy to fix,

then please, give now.

And please be generous.

Go on,

put a nought on it.

To donate online, please go to

bbc.co.uk/lifeline

To give by phone, call 0800 011 011.

Calls are free from mobiles and landlines.

You can also donate £10 by texting "Support" to 70121.

Texts cost £10, plus your standard network message charge,

and the whole £10 goes to IMPACT Foundation.

Full terms and conditions can be found at bbc.co.uk/lifeline

or, if you'd like to post a donation,

please make your cheque payable to IMPACT Foundation and send it to

Freepost BBC Lifeline Appeal,

writing "IMPACT Foundation" on the back of the envelope.

And if you want the charity to claim Gift Aid on your donation,

please include an e-mail or postal address,

so that they can send you a Gift Aid form.

Thank you.