Kanne Nalamaa? A visit to the eye care awareness exhibition at Aravind Eye Hospital here will answer the question whether your eyes are in good condition or not.
It is imperative to keep an eye on your eyes — with this message, an awareness exhibition is open in the hospital’s Dr. G. Venkataswamy Eye Research Institute for the benefit of students and the public, and in commemoration of the World Sight Day on October 11. The exhibition, ‘Kanne Nalamaa? 2012,’ inaugurated by Collector Anshul Mishra, gives a deep insight into prevention and treatment of eye diseases. From entry to exit, it is all about eyes. “Let us feel and understand how life will be without vision.” These are the words that take you into the exhibition hall and one has to walk in complete darkness for a few seconds so as to understand the difficulty faced when one is blind.
To create awareness of safeguarding eyesight and a pledge to fulfil elimination of needless blindness, there are stalls to explain how one can avoid vision loss. ‘touch and feel,’ ‘count and drop,’ ‘smell and find out’ are among the stalls that make you think about the life of visually challenged persons.
The Collector was taken around the exhibition by senior ophthalmologists of Aravind Eye Hospital — P. Namperumalsamy, Chairman Emeritus, Aravind Eye Care System; Aravind Srinivasan, Director (Projects); and Kim, Chief Medical Officer.
Of the estimated 3.9 crore people who are blind in the world, 25 per cent live in India and 75 per cent of this blindness is avoidable. Eye specialists explain in detail common eye diseases, juvenile cataract, diabetic retinopathy, vision loss among premature babies, refractive errors, squint eye, and cornea transplanting. “Early detection is the best way out. Parents, public and school children need awareness. After the age of 40, everyone should start going for periodic eye check-up and this is all the more important for diabetics,” says Dr. Namperumalsamy. “Blindness due to diabetes is due to ignorance and let not diabetes land you in darkness. Cataract occurs in children too; babies with birth weight of less than two kilograms are prone to retinopathy and they need urgent screening,” these are some of the messages put up prominently in the expo.
Latest procedures available for squint correction and treatment of ocular injuries are also explained. There is also an online portal www.aurosiksha.org which teaches about vision rehabilitation to eye care professionals.
The free eye care awareness exhibition is open from 9.30 a.m. to 7 p.m. (for students: 9.30 a.m. to 4 p.m.; for public: 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.) till October 11.
