Urban Diabetic Retinopathy On the Rise

A box on early symptoms of the disease may be prepared.

- Sudha Hariharan

The leading threat to the eyesight of the efficient age population of India especially in urban areas in coming years will be from diabetes-related eye diseases. This is an area where there is an urgent need to develop a nationwide simple programme like compulsory eye checkup in six months. Visual impairment and even blindness due to cataract is still one of the biggest burdens on Indian society, especially in the rural areas.

The good news is that the furthermost advancement made by charitable eye hospitals, NGOs and government as well as many private hospitals is in the field of cataract surgery. At the same time, how ever, we are ignoring Diabetic Retinopathy, also known as diabetic eye disease becoming a prime reason for blindness in India.

“One in eight persons above 50 years in India is a diabetic; one in every 46 diabetics is blind; and one in seven has some form of impairment in their vision due to high blood sugar reported in diabetes and diabetic retinopathy survey by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in collaboration with Ministry of Health and Family Welfare carried out between 2015 to 2019”, says Dr. Devendra Venkatramani (Vitreoretinal surgeon from Laxmi Eye Institute).