KUALA LUMPUR, 23 MARCH 2009 – Mathialagan Murugesu, 14, has been blind for the past four years, a victim of the dreaded Keratoconus eye disease. On 12 March 2009, he received a corneal transplant sponsored by Scope International, a wholly owned subsidiary of Standard Chartered Plc., United Kingdom. Mathialagan is now able to see again

Mathialagan comes from a very poor family in Triang, Pahang. His father had abandoned the family when the children were all very young. He has five other siblings. His mother works as a cleaner and earns only RM600 per month, which is all she has to bring up the family.

Speaking to reporters from the doctor’s surgery at the Tun Hussein Onn Eye Hospital, Mathialagan’s mother said,

“Since Mathi was 10 years old, I have visited many doctors to find a cure for my son. Despite 4 long years of treatment and the attempted use of contact lenses, his right eye continued to experience intense itching, discomfort and his vision kept deteriorating. One day, his right eyeball bulged out sharply like a cone and he wasn’t able to see anymore.”

‘I am very grateful to Dr. Saraswathi who has operated on my son’s eye so that he can now live a normal life. I am also very grateful to Scope International who has paid for the entire operation and all other medical costs.”

Goh See Wee, Head of International Software Centre Malaysia (ISCM), the software arm of Scope International, said

“The joy of a blind person whose sight has been restored is the unquantifiable reward that makes us continue to do what we can. Scope International is privileged to be able to make a difference in Mathialagan’s life today, that will pave the way to a brighter future for him and his family.”

Scope International donates RM40,000 annually to the Tun Hussein Onn Eye Hospital to fund sight restorative surgery for blind children and teenagers. Mathialagan is the third beneficiary of the Keratoconus Fund since its launch in 2007. Last year, a Corneal Collagen Cross-Linking machine, which slows down or halts the thinning of corneas was purchased for the hospital.

Since 2003, Standard Chartered has donated RM745,000 to help prevent blindness among Malaysians. These endeavours are the local action points of “Seeing is Believing”, the Standard Chartered Group’s initiative to eradicate avoidable blindness across Asia, Africa and the Middle East.