HYDERABAD: In a family of four members, one person is likely to have an eye problem, says an expert on eyesight awareness. Peter Holland, chief executive, International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness Council (IAPB), says there has not been adequate awareness about eye health in Hyderabad.About 20 to 25% of the city’s population has various issues with their eyes and, in many cases, problems like glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy and corneal disorders could have been averted with timely treatment.In an interview with TOI a day before the annual general meeting of IAPB in the city, Holland said eye care has to be integrated with mainstream health services.L V Prasad Eye Institute is hosting a two-day meeting to mark the 20th anniversary of its rural outreach and 400 delegates will attend the event. “People should have access to eye care. Across the world, many have no access to spectacles, eye screening or affordable treatment. NGOs or voluntary organizations cannot alone meet the needs of a state like Telangana and they should work in tandem with the government. They should bring in innovations so the government can learn from it,” Holland told TOI.Holland described ‘Telangana Kanti Velugu’, a free eye check-up programme launched by chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Independence Day this year, a good initiative. He said government-run hospitals and primary eye care centres should ramp up their infrastructure to treat patients.Holland held up LV Prasad Eye Institute’s 176 primary eye care centres and 18 secondary centres offering services to villagers in Telangana, AP, Odisha and Karnataka as a good example. People get free services and save for the price of lenses.Holland said rising eye problems among school children is a worrying trend. “Half the population in Asian countries would have short sightedness by 2050, in the absence of awareness. Increased use of cell phones, computer games and food habits are leading to a spurt in eye problems among teenagers,” he said.

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