Paediatric eye care programme launched

A city-based super speciality eye hospital today launched a new programme for the screening of babies of and above the age of one to ensure eye care at an early stage.
Narayana Nethralaya, Bangalore-based super speciality eye hospital, announced the roll out of this new community paediatric eye programme -- 'Focus on Retinopathy of Prematurity, Eye Care, Vision, Eye Cancer and Rehabilitation' (FOREVER).
Union Health and Family Welfare Secretary Keshav Desiraju, who launched the programme, said he was confident of 'FOREVER' meeting its objectives over a period of time in association with the state government.
The programme is pioneered by Narayana Nethralaya under the expanded Karnataka Internet Assisted Diagnosis of Retinopathy of Prematurity (KIDROP) initiative.

Chairman and MD of Narayana Nethralaya Bhujang Shetty said the program is aimed at screening of babies of and above the age of one, using a low cost method at the grassroots of the health-care delivery system to complement the Union government-sponsored Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram (RBSK).
Shetty said the central government has asked the hospital to implement the programme in collaboration with the state government.