Aravind planning vision centres

Aravind Eye Hospital will set up vision centres at Kinathukadavu, Palladam, and Sathyamangalam, V.Narendran, chief medical officer of the hospital, said here on Friday.One such centre was inaugurated by the hospital at Perianaickenpalayam on August 15.These vision centres would act as primary eye care centres and aim to cover about 50,000 to one lakh people in these rural areas, he added.The centres would make use of the telemedicine facility and take care of refractory and minor eye ailments, cataract and diabetic retinopathy.

After operation by a trained ophthalmic assistant, the patients’ case would be communicated to the ophthalmologist at the base hospital in Coimbatore. The patients could also interact with the doctor at the base hospital through the Wireless Local Loop connectivity.However, the refractive errors would be corrected at these vision centres itself, Dr.Narendran said.These centres would also dispense with the idea of eye camps that were regularly conducted by the hospital in these areas. Unlike temporary eye camps, these vision centres would provide a permanent solution to the vision problems of the rural population, he added.“Diabetic retinopathy has become the most common of all the eye problems now,” Dr.Narendran said. Earlier, it was cataract, but, with the number of diabetics going up, the problem had also grown, he observed.Awareness of the condition was also low among the public. A person who had been living with diabetes for over 15 years could develop retinopathy, he added.

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