Opththalmology Congress to begin on Jan 17 in AP

The three-day event, which will see participation from around 10,000 delegates, will be inaugurated by President Pranab Mukherjee.

"APAO-AIOS 2013 will throw light on the recent advances and latest developments in the field of ophthalmology and provide an opportunity for the participants to interact, discuss, exchange ideas with international ophthalmic experts," APAO-AIOS senior vice president Dr N S Reddy told reporters here.

Around 400 scientific sections will be held during the Congress, besides a trade exhibition showcasing the modern surgical equipment and instruments will also be held concurrently, he said.

APAO-AIOS Congress president Dr Rajvardhan Azad said India has the world's largest blind population with about 12 million people being blind, which is 20 per cent of the global blind population.

"Among those are about 3,20,000 children under the age of 16, constituting one fifth of the world's blind children," Dr Azad said, adding that upto 80 per cent of the blindness cases are curable or preventable.

Azad, who is also an advisor to the central government on ophthalmology, said under the National Programme for Control of Blindness, the percentage of blind has been brought down from 1.8 per cent population of the country to one per cent and it is expected to bring it to 0.6 per cent in the next five years.

The Congress will help eye specialists in India to upgrade their knowledge and will help learn the latest developments in the field of ophthalmology from other nations with sessions on all aspects including basics and advances on eye and various sub-specialities including cataract, cornea and external eye diseases, he explained.

Andhra Pradesh Governor E S L Narasimhan and Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy will attend the Congress.

The Asia-Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology Congress represents 19 countries with 50,000 ophthalmologists while AIOS is the largest association of eye surgeons in India and the second largest in the world with over 15,000 members.