Hyderabad|HL
According to the World Health Organization, currently there are an estimated 8 million people with blindness and an additional 55 million people with low vision in India. Of this only less than 10% have access to rehabilitation care.
L V Prasad Eye Institute (LVPEI)’s launched its ‘Institute for Vision Rehabilitation’, Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, WHO Regional Director for South East Asia, inaugurated it on Tuesday.
ESL Narasimhan, Hon’ble Governor of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana,was also attended the meetings later in the evening.
The institute is a World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Prevention of Blindness and a Global Resource Centre for VISION 2020: The Right to Sight initiative.
Dr Khetrapal Singh is here in connection with the ‘Regional Expert Group Consultation – Accelerating Actions for Prevention of Blindness’ meetings of the World Health Organization from December 13-15, 2016 being hosted by LVPEI.
When conventional treatments — such as medical or surgical — fail to prevent or restore vision loss, patients often experience visual impairment.
Visual impairment includes low vision and blindness. It can have immediate and long-term consequences in children and adults, such as lost educational and employment opportunities, lost economic gain for individuals, families and societies, and impaired quality of life.
It is estimated that about 90% of the world’s visually impaired people live in resource-poor countries such as India.
LVPEI was established in 1986-87 in Hyderabad as a not-for-profit, non-government, public-spirited, comprehensive eye care institution. It is governed by two trusts: the Hyderabad Eye Institute and the Hyderabad Eye Research Foundation.
