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Indian youth: Turning blind eye to vision problem
New Delhi, Oct 30: Next time your child complains of pain in the eyes, don`t ignore it. More than half of the school children across the country who need vision correction are blissfully unaware of it and continue as it is, slowly inching towards total blindness.
New Delhi, Oct 30: Next time your child complains of
pain in the eyes, don't ignore it. More than half of the
school children across the country who need vision correction
are blissfully unaware of it and continue as it is, slowly
inching towards total blindness.
Since vision defects are one of the leading causes of
"avoidable blindness" in the country, these figures brought
out by a recent survey paint an alarming picture of the
awareness levels in India.
The survey conducted by Bausch and Lomb, along with Vision Improvement Experts' Working Council (VIEW), an NGO, among 1.3 lakh students from across the country further reveals that around 54 per cent of school children in the national capital who need eye-care are not aware of the problem they are facing.
"It's quite true that refractive errors among children are not usually picked up. Children do not realise even if there is a problem where one eye is involved," says A K Grover, head, Department Of Opthalmology, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital.
"There is lack of awareness among the parents as well. They don't realise the need for periodic checkup and only act when the kids complain about pain in their eyes," says Vinay Agarwal, an optometrist working with view. Experts believe that all schools need to have a periodic eye checkup system. "School authorities should ensure that all the students undergo a proper eye-check at the time of admission and regular checkups, atleast once in a year, should be made compulsory," an additional professor at the Rajendra Prasad Opthalmologic Centre says.
Since the formative years (upto six years) are a critical period for the development of vision at the brain level, need for early diagnosis of any errors is important for the healthy life of a child.
"The first six years of a child's life are highly critical as this period develops vision at the perception level," says Grover, who believes that there is need for a comprehensive approach to tackle this problem.
"We have improved a lot over the years. We have graduated from the exclusive camp approach to the base hospital model but the infrastructure needs to be strengthened to improve the appalling state of eye care in the country," he says.
But a major lacunae is the acute shortage of qualified eyecare professionals in the country. In a country like India which has over 12 million blind people, who constitute around 25 per cent of the world's total blind population, there are only 25,000 opticians and 10,000 opthalmologists while the actual need for trained eyecare professionals is around 40,000.
"In absolute terms the number of professionals is less and they are concentrated in the metros. There is severe shortage for trained doctors at the primary health centres at the village and taluka level," Grover says.
"The primary health centres are supposed to have one opthalmologist but many posts are lying vacant. Those posts have not been filled and those filled are not supervised. This is a big lacunae that needs to be addressed immediately," he says.
The concentration of doctors at the urban level has adversely affected the situation at the other centres. "The situation in small towns like Lucknow, Hyderabad, Surat and Ahmedabad is worse," says J P Singh, managing director, Bausch and Lomb.
The awareness levels at centres like Lucknow, Chennai, Hyderabad, Surat and Ahmedabad are 50, 49, 45, 40 and 39 per cent respectively. "Rural areas are not able to get proper treatment and attention. Lack of adequate economic backing and social status of the parents compounds to this problem," the doctor with Rajendra Prasad Opthalmologic Centre says.
But Grover believe that the "overall situation in India is improving," even though the government has failed to achieve the world bank target to cut down the blind prevalance rate from 1.4 per cent.
Now under the vision 2020, the government is planning to cut down the prevalance rate by 0.3 per cent. "But a better managerial effort is needed to achieve this target and to tackle the problem," experts say. Bureau Report
The survey conducted by Bausch and Lomb, along with Vision Improvement Experts' Working Council (VIEW), an NGO, among 1.3 lakh students from across the country further reveals that around 54 per cent of school children in the national capital who need eye-care are not aware of the problem they are facing.
"It's quite true that refractive errors among children are not usually picked up. Children do not realise even if there is a problem where one eye is involved," says A K Grover, head, Department Of Opthalmology, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital.
"There is lack of awareness among the parents as well. They don't realise the need for periodic checkup and only act when the kids complain about pain in their eyes," says Vinay Agarwal, an optometrist working with view. Experts believe that all schools need to have a periodic eye checkup system. "School authorities should ensure that all the students undergo a proper eye-check at the time of admission and regular checkups, atleast once in a year, should be made compulsory," an additional professor at the Rajendra Prasad Opthalmologic Centre says.
Since the formative years (upto six years) are a critical period for the development of vision at the brain level, need for early diagnosis of any errors is important for the healthy life of a child.
"The first six years of a child's life are highly critical as this period develops vision at the perception level," says Grover, who believes that there is need for a comprehensive approach to tackle this problem.
"We have improved a lot over the years. We have graduated from the exclusive camp approach to the base hospital model but the infrastructure needs to be strengthened to improve the appalling state of eye care in the country," he says.
But a major lacunae is the acute shortage of qualified eyecare professionals in the country. In a country like India which has over 12 million blind people, who constitute around 25 per cent of the world's total blind population, there are only 25,000 opticians and 10,000 opthalmologists while the actual need for trained eyecare professionals is around 40,000.
"In absolute terms the number of professionals is less and they are concentrated in the metros. There is severe shortage for trained doctors at the primary health centres at the village and taluka level," Grover says.
"The primary health centres are supposed to have one opthalmologist but many posts are lying vacant. Those posts have not been filled and those filled are not supervised. This is a big lacunae that needs to be addressed immediately," he says.
The concentration of doctors at the urban level has adversely affected the situation at the other centres. "The situation in small towns like Lucknow, Hyderabad, Surat and Ahmedabad is worse," says J P Singh, managing director, Bausch and Lomb.
The awareness levels at centres like Lucknow, Chennai, Hyderabad, Surat and Ahmedabad are 50, 49, 45, 40 and 39 per cent respectively. "Rural areas are not able to get proper treatment and attention. Lack of adequate economic backing and social status of the parents compounds to this problem," the doctor with Rajendra Prasad Opthalmologic Centre says.
But Grover believe that the "overall situation in India is improving," even though the government has failed to achieve the world bank target to cut down the blind prevalance rate from 1.4 per cent.
Now under the vision 2020, the government is planning to cut down the prevalance rate by 0.3 per cent. "But a better managerial effort is needed to achieve this target and to tackle the problem," experts say. Bureau Report