Refractive errors should be one of govts' priorities: NGO

Governments should make correction of 'refractive errors' one of its priorities as over a 100 million Indians, including the underprivileged and those in rural areas, are in need of a pair of glasses, an NGO said Thursday. CEO of India Vision Institute (IVI), an NGO working to provide people access to vision-screening, Vinod Daniel said the move would bring quality into the lives of the people, in turn, increasing productivity.

"Since education is a state subject, the state governments can make changes in the policy-level so that teachers in every school are trained to conduct primary screening," he said, adding that the Centre can encourage the states in this. IVI, a not-for-profit organisation, claims that its key priority is to prevent 'preventable' blindness through timely intervention, a press statement here said.

The initiatives of the NGO focus on supporting research, education and technological developments to advance Indian capacity in vision correction and prevention of eye disease and blindness, the statement said. "Currently, over 100 million Indians need access to spectacles. These are people who live in rural areas and are underprivileged, and there are children," Daniel said in the statement.

Increased awareness campaigns and inclusion of eye screening in primary health centres are some of the other interventions Daniel suggested the governments should initiate. "Refractive errors should also be one of the priorities of governments, among other areas of focus in public health," he said adding "such a move would improve the productivity of every individual." Recently, the NGO collaborated with a young start-up company to undertake a trial of innovative, low-end prescription eyeglasses, the statement said.

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