The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Focus on combating blindness in rural Tamil Nadu

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Dec 30, 2006
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Focus on combating blindness in rural Tamil Nadu

Special Correspondent

Sankara Nethralaya will run a mobile van, equipped with ophthalmic equipments

SHARING EXPERTISE: M. Velayutham, Executive Director, MSSRF (second from left); exchanging a document with V. Vaidyanathan, Honorary Secretary, Medical Research Foundation, Sankara Nethralaya, in Chennai on Friday. Also in the picture are: M.S. Swam inathan, Chairman, MSSRF (left) and S.S. Badrinath, Chairman, Sankara Nethralaya. — Photo: S.R. Raghunathan

CHENNAI: Two giants in the field of research and development, one equally qualified in medical science, on Friday, signed a memorandum of understanding to take their expertise to the rural areas in a manner that would benefit the people there to see.

Representatives of Sankara Nethralaya and M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation formalised their agreement to combat blindness in rural Tamil Nadu at the latter's centre in Taramani. As per this, Sankara Nethralaya will run a mobile van, equipped with ophthalmic equipments for diagnosis of eye-related problems, spectacle grinding and fitting facilities and qualified and trained optometrist to six villages where the Foundation has set up village knowledge and resource centres.

The van will visit the VRCs and VKCs in Cuddalore, Nagapattinam, Thanjavur, Dindigul and Ramanathapuram, once in 15 days to examine patients in rural areas for any kind of eye-related condition. In case of refractive errors, spectacles will be made at the spot and provided to the patients at cost price, medicines will be distributed free of cost and surgeries (wherever necessary) will be referred to the Chennai centre, S.S. Badrinath, chairman, Sankara Nethralaya, said.

Since uncorrected refractive errors and cataracts are the largest causes of blindness in the country, addressing these two will go a long way in preventing vision loss, he added. He provided details about the S.N. Teleophthalmology project currently functional in and around Chennai, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.

The mobile van equipped with diagnostic equipment, satellite link and lens and frame fitting facilities, has so far conducted over 1000 camps, benefiting nearly 95,000 patients who had their eyes examined. A further 22,000 patients had consultations through video conferencing.

The project was a collaboration between the Indian Space Research Organisation, World Diabetic Foundation and Essilor India.

Speaking on the occasion, M.S. Swaminathan, chairman, MSSRF, said the tie up with Sankara Nethralaya marked a giant step in building vision security systems in rural India.

Application of technology will facilitate taking care to rural India at an affordable cost. He also stressed on the importance of the programme within the context of achieving human security, the goal of Mission 2007-Every Village a Knowledge Centre.

V. Vaidyanathan, secretary and treasurer, Medical Research Foundation, signed the MoU on behalf of Sankara Nethralaya and exchanged the documents with M. Velayutham, executive director, MSSRF. Lingam Gopal, chairman-elect, Sankara Nethralaya and B. Jayanth of Essilor India, Bangalore, also spoke.

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