Over 2,000 ophthalmologists from across the world came together for the ‘Indian Intraocular Implant and Refractive Surgery Convention 2017’ organised by the Intraocular Implant and Refractive Society of India (IIRSI) in the city on Saturday.
Inaugurating the two-day conference, State Health Minister C. Vijaya Baskar said the Tamil Nadu government had implemented several initiatives including the screening of school children, offering training in modern surgery to doctors and setting up of more eye banks to help address preventable blindness.
“Cataract and refractive surgeries are important focus areas of Vision 2020 and I hope that through such conferences, better practices are shared among the doctors for the benefit of the public,” he added.
As a part of the conference, ophthalmologists from India and abroad identified by the scientific committee of the IIRSI, were honoured for their service to people through the years.
“We have set up a wet lab here, where based on the lectures and videos shown of surgeries, the participants can get practical hands-on experience of the new techniques they have learnt. Kiosks have also been set up where videos of challenging surgeries can be seen by the participants and they can learn about new techniques being used,” explained Amar Agarwal, secretary general, IIRSI.
‘Collaboration is key’
Susan Macdonald, President, Women in Opthalmogy(WIO), from the U.S., said that a collaboration between doctors across borders was important to ensure that there was adequate access to quality healthcare for people.
The organisers later called on Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami and briefed him about the conference details.
