Over 13% of school going children are myopic: AIIMS

It has doubled in the last one decade due to excessive usage of electronic gadgets

Over 13 per cent of the school going children in India are myopic, a figure that has doubled in the last one decade due to excessive usage of electronic gadgets, states an AIIMS study.

According to the study, conducted by Rajendra Prasad Center for Opthalmic Sciences of AIIMS, only 7 per cent children suffered from the problem till a decade ago.

The doctors at the Rajendra Prasad (R P) Centre are now conducting a national survey to find out the other eye related problems prevalent among children.

The studies include use of stem cells for age related muscular degeneration, evaluation of global warming and ultra violet radiation exposure on ocular health among several others.

Myopia, also known as near-sightedness is a condition of the eye where the light that comes in does not directly focus on the retina but in front of it, causing the image that one sees when looking at a distant object to be out of focus. It does not affect focus when looking at a close object.

"Very less studies have been done in India on the eye related problems and the myopia one is one of them. We are also conducting a national survey to find out the other eye related problems among the children," said Atul Kumar, head of the RP centre, the apex eye center of India on 49th Foundation Day of the Dr R P Centre for Opthalmologic Sciences.

Established in 1967, as the National Institute of Opthalmology, R P centre currently has 41 faculty members working in its 14 clinical and para clinical sections.