Date:10/10/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/10/10/stories/2008101052560400.htm

New Delhi

Sight Day celebrated in a special way

Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI: To focus attention on avoidable blindness and visual impairment, the Centre for Sight celebrated World Sight Day in a special way here on Thursday.

It organised several seminars on eye care, including blade-free Lasik, customised Lasik, refractive errors and squint, cataract, diabetic retinopathy and computer vision syndrome, at its four centres in Delhi and the National Capital Region to promote eye care services.

Emphasising the need for everyone to be aware of age-related macular degenerations, cataract and glaucoma, the Medical Director of the Centre for Sight, Dr. Mahipal Sachdev, said patients with systemic illnesses like diabetes should be aware of the eye problems associated with such ailments.

According to one estimate, about 15 million people across the country are blind, and 2 million of them are children. Every year, three million people develop cataract in their eyes.