What is this?
The Hindu A boy carrying a visually challenged couple after 'White Cane Day'
celebration in Bhopal on monday. Madhya Pradesh
Even hindu can stoop to such levels of journalism?
Whether photo depicts boy carrying VI couple, or just leading them, please
verify with sighted, please.
I am yet to read the full news...
Rajesh
-Original Message-
From: accessindia-boun...@accessindia.org.in
[mailto:accessindia-boun...@accessindia.org.in] On Behalf Of Vikas Kapoor
Sent: Thursday, October 14, 2010 5:43 PM
To: Access India
Subject: [AI] Project eyes blindness prevention in children
Project eyes blindness prevention in children
Afshan Yasmeen
The Hindu A boy carrying a visually challenged couple after 'White Cane Day'
celebration in Bhopal on monday. Madhya Pradesh Federation of the Blinds
distributed free 200 white canes to visually challenged persons in this
programme. Photo by A. M. Faruqui
Did you know that most premature babies are at the risk of developing
retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), a leading cause of preventable infant
blindness?
Come January, premature babies born in the backward districts of north and
central Karnataka will be screened for ROP soon after their birth and treated.
This will be possible through a public-private-partnership between the Union
Health Ministry and the Narayana Nethralaya under the National Rural Health
Mission (NRHM).
Boon to rural areas
With childhood wellness, including right to sight, being one of the major
components of NRHM, this partnership will be a boon to children in rural areas.
"The plan is to screen all premature babies born in rural areas and ensure that
their defective vision is treated at the right time," S. Selva Kumar, State
NRHM Mission Director told The Hindu on the eve of World Sight Day.
With the theme for this year's World Sight Day (October 14) being "Countdown to
2020: The Right to Sight," the Government is keen on expanding the project to
other districts. The focus will be on tackling preventable blindness," he said.
Although ROP can be prevented if diagnosed and treated early, there is a severe
paucity of ROP-trained ophthalmologists in the country. Under the partnership,
experts from Narayana Nethralaya will train ophthalmologists and technicians to
screen rural children and transfer the images to the hospital.
The defect will be diagnosed and if required the children will be brought to
Bangalore for further treatment, said K. Bhujang Shetty, Chairman of Narayana
Nethralaya.
The hospital has already conducted a pilot project titled Karnataka State
Internet Assisted Diagnosis of Retinopathy of Prematurity (KIDROP) in the
surrounding districts of Bangalore and Mysore.
Nearly 4,500 babies have been screened and 400 of them have been treated. The
hospital has collaborated with i2i TeleSolutions to develop the telemedicine
software.
"All babies whose birth weight is less than 2,000 grams (2 kg) will be
screened. While the Government will provide staff, vehicles and equipment, we
will provide the logistics. There has been some delay in the procurement of
equipment. But the project will start in January in the backward districts of
northern and central Karnataka," Dr. Shetty said.
With the main causes of chronic blindness being glaucoma and diabetic
retinopathy, the State-run Minto Ophthalmic Institute has started a
comprehensive programme to screen, detect and treat these two eye diseases
among the rural masses. If detected early, these diseases can be managed
thereby protecting the infant's vision.
Hospital Medical Superintendent K.S. Sriprakash told The Hindu that this was in
tune with the theme for this year's World Sight Day.
"Although we have been conducting eye camps across the State to detect cataract
and perform surgeries, we have recently started organising camps for diabetic
retinopathy and glaucoma. Nearly 10,000 have been screened so far and 600 are
getting further treatment," he said.
That apart, the hospital is also regularly conducting school screening
programmes to detect vision defects in children.
http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Bangalore/article830234.ece
Vikas Kapoor,
MSN Id:dl_vi...@hotmail.com, Yahoo&Skype Id: dl_vikas,
Mobile: (+91) 9891098137.
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