Kalam calls for defect-free vision

Bhubaneswar, July 3: Prsident A P J Abdul Kalam today said ''Defect-free vision for all'' should be the national mission.

The cost of technology and the availability and acceptability had made the national mission for ''Vision 2020: The Right to Sight'' a reality, Dr Kalam said, adding that the national mission should focus on protocol driven treatment involving mission-oriented doctors.

Inaugurating the Bhubaneswar Eye Institute(BEI), a unit of the LV Prasad Eye Institute, Hyderabad, the President stressed that series of eye camps to be organised reinforcing many eye hospitals with technology to cover larger population for the treatment.

Noting that the eye problems of the children, could be corrected if diagnosed early, he urged anyone having defective vision or any obvious complaints to be brought to the eye institute for investigation and treatment.

He said he had been asking the students to be helpful to their colleagues by bringing out special eye problem of the child to the notice of the parents or the teachers.

This type of intervention will enable early detection and promote the concept of ''Vision for All'' in its true perspective, he remarked.

. Dr Kalam said nearly 22 per cent of the country's population is still below the poverty line and medical care has to be provided to a large population. He said the major problem in Indian health care delivery system including the area of ophthalmology was the near total dependency on medical imports of diagnostic and therapeutic equipment and devices including consumables.

''While the common man seldom buys anything imported, he is made to purchase or pay partly for the cost of the imported gadgets for healthcare,'' he pointed out, adding that this clearly brings out the need to create an infrastructure capable of producing our own medical equipment, devices and consumables, based on the technology available and to be developed within the country.

'' We have the best of doctors and technologists in India. We have core competence in design and software engineering. Emerging technologies in virtual reality and micro machines will transform the healthcare scenario, '' the President said.

He said over the last 30 years,the technology for eye care has improved exponentially. Today precision laser surgery has become common place for cataract treatment and for spectacle free vision.

The Bhubaneswar Eye Institute could create a tele-Ophthalmology network using tele-eye care network of ISRO, he said.

A multi eye clinic environment with seamless two-way interaction between the doctors and patients will enable the eye specialist to diagnose the particular patient and also seek expert opinion from distance doctors located in remote areas.

Dr Kalam said the largest patient base and diversity are available only in a few countries like India. The networking of the institutions he said could provide an integrated knowledge base which when grows to significant size could be used for detecting the relationship between eye disorders and human genome, hereditary, ethnicity and geography.

Orissa Governor Rameswar Thakur, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, Union Energy Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde and L V Prasad Eye Institute Boiard of Trustees Chairman Dr G N Rao were among others spoke on the occasion.

UNI