Andhra Pradesh - Visakhapatnam   

Screening camp for diabetics today

Special Correspondent

Sankar Foundation, VJF to conduct it

VISAKHAPATNAM: The Sankar Foundation and the Vizag Journalists' Forum (VJF) will conduct a free diabetic retinopathy camp at Narla Venkateswara Bhavan opposite Seethammadhara Rythu Bazar on Thursday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. to mark the World Sight Day.

Announcing this at a media conference here on Wednesday, retina specialist of the foundation Ajay Sharma observed that diabetes increased alarmingly in India in the last one decade. According to the WHO report, an estimated 57 million people suffered from diabetes, and 25 per cent of them had eye problems or diabetic retinopathy. Blood vessels in various organs of the body would be damaged due to higher sugar levels, and retina, the most important part of the eye, was no exception. "The damage causes bleeding, leading to swelling, which at a later stage causes detachment of the retina, called diabetic retinopathy," he explained. "There are three aspects in this. The eyesight can be normal in some cases even if a person is affected by diabetic retinopathy. Secondly, once nerves in the retina are damaged, nothing can be done except making efforts to arrest further damage. Diabetic retinopathy can be brought under control by controlling diabetes," Dr. Sharma said.

Annual check-up

He also called for an annual eye check-up in the case of all diabetics. Eighty per cent of blindness was avoidable, 60 per cent treatable and 20 per cent preventable. In India, diabetic retinopathy was the sixth leading cause of blindness. Administrative Officer of the foundation D.D. Prasada Rao said World Sight Day was celebrated on the second Thursday of October every year. In India, the theme for this year was Diabetic Retinopathy. VJF president S. Siva Shankar and secretary M. Yugandhar Reddy also spoke.

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