Chennai: “In India, there are 12 million blind and 55 per cent of people have cataract,” remarked Dr Agarwal’s Eye Hospital chairman and Intraocular Implant and Refractive Society of India (IIRSI) secretary general, Dr Amar Agarwal.
Speaking at the inauguration of the annual IIRSI conference here today, he said, “To introduce the latest techniques like glued IOL, this conference has been convened.”
“As many as 4,000 doctors across the world are taking part in the convention. The main idea is to dissipate the knowledge to treat the blind and visually-impaired,” stated Rajan Eye Care Hospital Pvt Ltd, chairman and medical director, Dr Mohan Rajan. He is also the past president of IIRSI.
Dr Amar Agarwal further stated that live surgeries for treating cataract and transplantation will be performed during the convention. “Methods like pinhole pupilloplasty will be demonstrated to treat conical cornea as against the conventional transplantation,” he added.
Dr Agarwal’s Group of Hospitals Clinical Services chief, Dr Ashvin Agarwal, noted, “We will also be having skills-transfer or wet lab sessions with dummy eyes or animal eyes to train young doctors so that the younger generation is trained.”
The conference was inaugurated by Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami, Health Minister C Vijayabaskar and Health Secretary Beela Rajesh.
The Chief Minister in the press release said, ‘Health has always been an area of concern and challenge for the government. However, Tamilnadu has always been a forerunner in ophthalmology. The State hosts many premier eye institutes which train aspiring ophthalmologists in advanced skills and technology, who then go on to serve patients in different parts of the country. This is much needed due to huge prevalence of eye disorders in India such as cataract, glaucoma, retina and cornea diseases.
“The eyecare infrastructure existing in Tamilnadu is world-class and offers quality treatment at an affordable cost. I hope that the State emerges as among the top destinations in the world for medical tourism for patients suffering from complex eye disorders,” noted Health Minister Vijayabaskar in the release.