World Sight Day was celebrated on Thursday (October 12) with various programs in Bangladesh like in other countries of the world. This year, the theme of the day was 'Love Your Eyes at Work'.
To mark the day, an awareness-raising procession was taken out from the National Institute of Ophthalmology and Hospital (NIOH) in the capital and a seminar was held at the institute auditorium on Thursday.
Prof Dr Golam Mostafa, Line Director of the government's National Eye Care and Director of NIOH, graced the occasion as the chief guest.
Prof Mostafa said National Eye Care has so far established 200 community eye care centers in upazila hospitals to treat eye diseases. National and international organizations engaged in the eye care are also delivering eye services at the doorsteps of the people, he added.
World Sight Day is celebrated on the second Thursday of October every year. The main objective of the day is to make the world aware of blindness, visual impairment and eye care.
Prof Mostafa said, “Eyes are an important part of the human body. But people often neglect them. If people have a clear understanding of why they suffer from blindness or visual impairment and know what to do for eye care at workplace, the rate of blindness in Bangladesh will be greatly reduced.”
Prof Dr Dipak Kumar Nag, head of Retina Department of NIOH and Secretary General of Ophthalmological Society of Bangladesh, said, “Once the rate of blindness in the country was 1.45 percent. However, according to the latest survey, the rate has decreased to 0.69 percent. It means now less than 1 person in 100 or 7 persons in 1,000 suffer from blindness. As such, 1.2 million people are currently blind in the country. On the other hand, 3 percent or 5.1 million people suffer from low vision.”
Prof Khayer Ahmed Chowdhury, Head of Pediatric Ophthalmology Department at NIOH, delivered the address of welcome in the seminar. He said currently the main problems related to vision are cataract, glaucoma and retinal problems. "Diabetes-related eye problems have now got worse," he added.
Dr Munir Ahmed, Chairman of INGO Forum and Country Director of Orbis International, said NGOs and the private sector have been working together with the government for a long time to eliminate visual impairment in Bangladesh.
"Eye treatment should be brought to people's doorsteps as a part of human rights keeping in view the strategic vision of the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness’s (IAPB) 'Insight 2030'. Eye care should be encouraged at all levels,” he added.
Dr Munir said eye care services should be provided in a coordinated way throughout Bangladesh. “Not only at the district level, it should be extended to the village level, to all occupational groups such as workers in garment, transport and tea sectors,” he added.
According to him, 10 international NGOs working for eye care in Bangladesh are relentlessly working with the government.
Ophthalmologists said at the seminar vision problems in Bangladesh have decreased in some cases, but new problems are arising. They said the number of cataract operations in the country has increased, contributing to the decline in cataract-related blindness.
Glaucoma and retinal problems are also decreasing but the incidences of dry eye are increasing due to climate change and environmental problems while cornea-related problems are on the rise.
Prof Dr Abdul Quader, Chairman of the Academic Committee of the Cornea Department at NIOH, Shahin Reza Chowdhury, founder of Dristy Unnayan Sangstha and Professor at National Medical College, Dr Shamima Sultana, Professor at Vitro-Retina Department, and Assistant Professor Dr Utpal Kundu, Deputy Program Manager, also spoke on the occasion.
Rupan Kanti Dutta, Head of Training and Partnerships at EssilorLuxottica, recited a special poem on the occasion of World Sight Day while the seminar was moderated by Dr Faiza Rahla, Project Manager at Helen Keller International.
Besides Bangladesh’s Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and National Eye Care, eye care organizations Andheri Hilfe, BRAC, CBM Global, the Fred Hollows Foundation, Heart to Heart Foundation, Helen Keller International, Orbis International, Sightsavers, VisionSpring and EssilorLuxottica organized various awareness-raising programs and provided special eye services at the national and district levels on the occasion of the day.
The International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness-IAPB has launched a year-long campaign ahead of this year's World Sight Day.
Speakers at the seminar expect the key message of this year's theme will enhance awareness among the people of taking care of their eyes at the workplace.
According to information at NIOH, every day over 3,000 patients seek treatment for various eye problems from the institute alone. The institute data suggest about 14.3 million people in the country are suffering from vision problems and the number of eye patients is increasing day by day.
According to the World Health Organization, about 2.2 billion people in the world suffer from blindness or visual impairment, of which one billion cases are preventable or curable.
Health experts say children’s addiction to video games is leading to eye problems as well as mental problems among them.
