Karnataka - Mangalore   

Eye check-up camp today

By Our Staff Correspondent

MANGALORE, OCT. 13. The Kasturba Medical College (KMC) Hospital aims to raise public awareness in the city on the prevention and treatment of blindness. On the occasion of World Sight Day on Thursday, the hospital will be providing free eye check-ups to the public from 9 a.m.

According to the Head, Unit of Ophthalmology, M.G. Kamath, an estimated 180 million people worldwide are visually disabled. Of those, between 40 million and 45 million are blind. Owing to growing populations and aging, these numbers are expected to double by 2020.

Up to 80 per cent of cases of blindness are avoidable, either resulting from preventable conditions or being treatable so that sight is restored. Prevention and treatment of vision loss are among the most cost-effective and successful of all health interventions, says

Dr. Kamath. These interventions include cataract surgery, prevention of trachoma, immunisation against measles, provision of vitamin

A supplements for the prevention of childhood blindness and correction of refractive errors.

The camp will include consultation and intraocular pressure recording for screening glaucoma and auto-refractometry for refracto-errors.

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