'Indian eye-care model being adopted by other countries'

"India has achieved a huge success in solving the problem (of cataract). The key measure is how many cataracts (surgeries) are done in a community.

"The number of cataract operations has increased five- fold over the last 20 years. That's a fantastic achievement. There's still lot needs to be done...But in terms of progress it is huge," International Agency for Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) CEO Peter Ackland said.

Many of India's approach in eye-care were being adopted in countries of South Asia, Central America and parts of Africa, he told reporters at the ninth general assembly of IAPB that got underway here.

Globally 285 million people are visually impaired, he said, adding that 80 per cent of 'blind' cases are treatable.

Quoting an estimate of the PwC, he said, "Around USD 1 trillion was being lost annually globally in view of the social and health care costs as people were getting blind. We estimate that the global cost of eliminating avoidable blindness and vision impairment is only about one quarter of that." (More)