Grand Initiative on World Sight Day

In honor of World Sight Day, a grand initiatives has been launched by Coimbatore Trinity Super Specialty Eye Hospital to safeguard vision health. As part of initiatives, the free eye Checkup camp, commencing today on October 12, 2023, is aimed at extending essential eye care services to the Police Departments staffs and their families in the city. This collaborative effort seeks to raise awareness about vision health and to offer free eye check-ups and special privileges for spectacles and surgeries to the participants.

The inaugural ceremony took place at the Trinity Super Specialty Eye Hospital premises at 10.00 am, with Assistant Commissioner of Coimbatore Traffic Police Department, Mr. Sitrarasu, leading the proceedings. Dr. Sunil Sridhar, the Managing Director of Trinity Super Specialty Eye Hospital, officially commenced the event.

Dr. Sridhar said, "Blindness can be caused by various factors, and it's crucial to address this issue. According to a 2002 World Health Organization report, 80 percent of the world's 45 million blind people are over the age of 50, and 90 percent of them reside in countries like ours. The major causes of blindness, such as cataracts and eye pressure, can be effectively treated at an affordable cost."

World Sight Day was first observed on October 8, 1998, by the International ARIMA Association, in collaboration with other international organizations dedicated to preventing blindness. This significant event later became integrated with the World Health Organization's Vision 2020 international initiative, and it has been observed on the second Thursday of October since 2000.

World Vision Day aligns with the Vision 2020 initiative, which urges governments to take action to prevent sight loss due to seven identified diseases: cataracts, intraocular trachoma, watery eyes and visual impairment in children, blurred vision, diabetic retinopathy, and eye pressure disease. The availability of proper treatments and medicines for these conditions makes it possible to achieve this vision of a world without preventable blindness.