The eye checkup camp will be a milestone in the state's medical history, said Maharashtra Minister Girish Mahajan.
Aiming for a Guinness World Record, Maharashtra Water Resources Minister Girish Mahajan is planning to organise world's largest eye checkup camp in Jalgaon district in about two months' time.
The minister had organised a mega health camp in Jalgaon, his home district, two weeks ago, in which a team of top surgeons in the state conducted a whopping 4,500 angioplasty operations in different private hospitals.
"The eye checkup camp will be a milestone in the state's medical history. We will conduct not only cataract operations but also eye replacement surgeries. Yes, a world record is on my mind," he said.
The thought of setting the Guinness World Record occurred to Mr Mahajan after the mega camp elicited a very good response.
The 55-year-old minister, however, refuted the charge that he is resorting to populism and not pursuing development.
"The rural people cannot afford heavy expenses for good medical services. Not each of them can travel to big cities like Mumbai for better treatment. What is the harm if the medical treatment is made available to them at their doorstep?" he said.
"I have been helping the poor in medical treatment since we won the Lok Sabha elections (in May, 2014). I have deployed five state-of-the-art medical vans to ferry poor patients from Jalgaon to Mumbai," the minister asserted.
"The doctors in Mumbai can monitor the patient's condition through satellite images while he is on the way to the hospital. We charge the patients only for the fuel. People had elected me even when I was not doing this," said Mr Mahajan, a fifth time legislator from Jamner in Jalgaon.
"I have funded treatment for at least 120 physically impaired children. Such is the response that I am planning to buy a bus to carry the patients to Mumbai," he apprised.
The minister said he plans to route his initiatives through a Trust.
"Of course, I am planning to institutionalise the initiative through a Trust. The procedure to register 'GM Foundation' is under way. It will become a reality soon," he said.
A BJP leader said Mr Mahajan is trying to establish himself as a decision maker before the Zila Parishad elections in the state scheduled in early 2017. "He knows he can have a say in the decision making if his popularity is at its peak," he said.