Tamil Nadu - Coimbatore   

Provide more funds for eye research

Photo: K. Ananthan

S.S. Badrinath, Emeritus Chairman, Sankara Nethralaya, Chennai, delivering the Sri Jayendra Saraswathy - Sankara Oration, at the Sankara Eye Centre in Coimbatore on Saturday. –

COIMBATORE: Philanthropists should donate more towards eye research in the country, said Emeritus Chairman of Sankara Nethralaya, Chennai, S.S. Badrinath.

“If we do not understand our own problems and find solutions through research, then who will? With high incidence of diabetes in India, there are very high chances of diabetic retinopathy becoming a major threat. We should carry out India-centric studies for solving Indian problems. Research for prevention of eye diseases, especially, reducing cataract prevalence will require Rs. 36 crore,” he said here on Saturday.

Dr. Badrinath was delivering the Sri Jayendra Saraswathy-Sankara Oration on “Public – Private Partnership in Eye Care” at the inauguration of the first convention of the Community Ophthalmology Society of India (COSI) at the Sankara Eye Centre.

Describing a public institution as “a registered, non-profit, charitable, privatised public institution,” he chose to term donors as the “private institutions that helped the public institution in doing their work well.”

“All public institutions should make eye care affordable to the haves and have-nots, make available state-of-the-art facilities for all patients, and make it accessible for any kind of eye problem.

Whatever is collected from paying patients should be used judiciously in order to save enough to treat poor patients,” said Dr. Badrinath.

Since public institutions thrived on donations, they should have credibility, accountability, and show definite results for the money received. Results should not only be in the form of good services, but also in efficiently training doctors who can go out and perform the same services in other parts of the country, he said.

Tanuja Joshi, the society president, said that the base for community ophthalmology was primary eye care. R.V. Ramani, Managing Trustee, Sankara Eye Care Institutions, said that the convention would address the changing trends in eye care.

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