10 crore Indians have no access to a pair of glasses’ - Times of India Aug 11, 2018, 11.23 PM IST Printed from 

MUMBAI: Around 10 crore Indians don’t have access to the simplest way to see better: A pair of glasses. “Most of them are underprivileged Indians who are either too old or too young,” said Vinod Daniel, CEO, India Vision Institute, a not-for-profit trust working to wipe out this public health problem. It is a joint initiative of Hyderabad-based LV Prasad Eye Institute and Brien Holden Vision Institute in Sydney. “Preventing ‘preventable’ blindness through timely intervention is our key priority,” said Daniel, who shuttles between India and Australia for this mission. “Not having access to glasses is a major problem in Indian, especially in tier 2 and 3 cities. People either have no awareness that they need glasses or they don’t know where to get their eyes checked,” said Daniel, who was in Mumbai to finalise a charity ‘Walk In The Dark’ in Nagpur soon. IVI conducts Eye See & I Learn and Eye See & I Work initiatives to raise resources to provide free spectacles that enable children to perform better in school, and adults to work to their full potential. “Around 10-12% of children in aged 6-17 across India need glasses,” said Daniel. As 80% of what children learn is visual, their chances of failing in studies increases manifold if they can’t see properly. In the 45-plus age group, the lack of glasses can affect productivity and earning. “The elderly believe their eyes are not functioning optimally just as their knees no longer do. But a pair of glasses can increase productivity by 34% and increase income by 20%. They could make a big difference to people’s lives,” he added. 8/13/2018 ‘10 crore Indians have no access to a pair of glasses’ - Times of India https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/10-crore-indians-have-no-access-to-a-pair-of-glasses/articleshowprint/65370244.cms 2/2 <https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/10-crore-indians-have-no-access-to-a-pair-of-glasses/articleshowprint/65370244.cms2/2>  The NGO works in 18 states across India and has screened over two lakh Indians in five years and provided free spectacles to 35,000 people. The NGO has identified the lack of trained optometrists as one of the biggest impediments to the failure to correct refractive error among Indians. “India needs 1.2 lakh optometrists but has only 45,000. Worse, most are in tier 1 and 2 cities,” he said, adding that 300 capacity-building exercises have been conducted across India. The NGO screened 3,000 children each in Navi Mumbai and Pune schools and is screening more in Nagpur. “In two years, we want to screen a million people as we have developed a screening technique in which teachers can conduct initial screening before our medical team,” said Daniel. The lack of perfect vision has high social impact. “Vision affects productivity, it affects day-to-day life. The elderly with vision problems are 50% more likely than those with glasses to have falls. Road accidents as well as crime is higher,” said Daniel, adding that World Health Organisation’s studies indicated that uncorrected refractive errors lead to loss of productivity of $26 billion annually.