It is revealed that around 100,000 persons end up blind due to cataract every year in Sri Lanka, while this amount globally is estimated at around 18 million.

A number of countrywide programmes have been launched to mark ‘World Blind Day’ on October 13, said Health Ministry Additional Secretary Dr Palitha Mahipala at a press conference held at the Health Education Bureau yesterday.

Five more patients who were being treated with the drug Avastin for eye disease have been blinded, according to one of the patients and medical professionals.

The latest cases occurred last month at the Veterans Affairs medical center in Los Angeles. Late Thursday, the Department of Veterans Affairs confirmed that the problem had occurred and said that an investigation into the matter was continuing.

“Our deepest sympathy goes out to the veterans affected by the Avastin eye injections,” it said in a statement.

At least 16 people in two states have gotten severe eye infections, and some have been blinded, from injections of the drug Avastin, according to health authorities and to lawyers representing the patients.

The cancer drug Avastin has been used by some doctors to treat macular degeneration, an off-label application.

The incidents, in Florida and Tennessee, demonstrate the risks associated with the money-saving practice of injecting Avastin into the eye to treat the wet form of age-related macular degeneration, a common cause of severe vision loss in the elderly.

Alto gether 18 children were born blind in the arsenic affected blocks of Bhojpur district during the past three months, Bihar health minis- ter Nand Kishore Yadav confirmed on Wednesday.

The cause of the blindness was not yet known, but health department officials were in touch with ophthal- mologists, he said.

PATNA: Altogether 18 children were born blind in the arsenic affected blocks of Bhojpur district during the past three months, Bihar Health Minister Nand Kishore Yadav confirmed.

The cause of the blindness was not yet known, but health department officials were in touch with ophthalmologists, he said.

Zubeda Hamid |

IN a tiny laboratory of the physics department in Lady Doak College, a project is on to map eye infections that cause blindness among children in Pudukottai district.

Blindness is a major public health threat in the country, with over 750,000 people suffering from the malaise while 120,000 new incidences occurring every year mostly for lack of eye care resources and awareness.

According to a recent report published by the Ministry of Heath, 150,000 fully blind people and another 400,000 with eye diseases lacking clear vision live in Sri Lanka.
Around 50,000 suffer from cataract and another 15,000 are impaired with glaucoma. About 6,000 are suffering from various eye problems due to diabetics, the report says.

A WHO study says 60% of people with poor vision in the country are under 45, with trachoma being the chief culprit

Is young India