7.5 lakh suffer from blindness, 1.2 lakh added a year
Blindness is a major public health threat in the country, with over 750,000 people suffering from the malaise while 120,000 new incidences occurring every year mostly for lack of eye care resources and awareness.
“Of the sufferers from blindness, 80 percent (650,000 people) have cataract problem that can be cured using intra-ocular lens through a simple, cost effective surgery,” said Dr Wahidul Islam, country director of Sightsavers International, quoting The Bangladesh National Blindness and Low Vision Survey 2003.
The survey is carried out every 10 years.
Besides the 750,000 sufferers from blindness, another over six million who have been suffering from refractive error and other eye problems need vision by spectacle and other means, Dr Islam told UNB in an interview yesterday.
Of the total, approximately 150,000 are 'irreversible blind' that cannot be cured through treatment or surgery but need to be rehabilitated in the society, he said, adding that of the others, 75 percent are curable.
Major causes of blindness in Bangladesh are cataract, childhood blindness, refractive error, diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma, trauma, age-related macular degeneration, etc.
Dr Islam said that it is of great concern that 80 percent of the sufferers live in the rural areas, but 90 percent doctors and their assistants live in the towns and cities.
Every year, the number of blind people is increasing for what he said lack of public awareness, coordination between government and NGOs and human resources (ophthalmologists and their assistants) as well as barriers in uptake of eye care services by the poor.
Dr Islam expressed his doubt in achieving the goals of Vision 2020, the National Eye Care Plan, as only a national level V2020 committee and 10/15 district level committees have been formed so far since launching of the plan in 2000.
“Vision 2020-The Right to Sight”, a global initiative for elimination of avoidable blindness by the year 2020, was launched by the World Health Organisation (WHO), and ratified by Bangladesh in 2000.
Only 626 ophthalmologists and 618 mid-level eye care personnel (MLEP) from government, NGOs and private sector are working in the country for eye care services though four MLEPs (assistant) are needed for each ophthalmologist, Dr Islam said quoting the latest National Eye Care Capacity Assessment 2003.
To control the cataract blindness in Bangladesh, there is need for nearly 380,000 cataract operations annually but currently about 140,000 cataract operations are being done, which represents around 45 percent of the need, says the assessment.
The government's National Eye Care Operational Plan (revised) (2005-2010) feared that the number of blind population would double by the year 2020 if no intervention is initiated immediately.
It mentions that the blinds are treated as the burden in society, both from economic and social points of view. The estimated cost of blindness in Bangladesh is about Tk 20,000 crore calculated on the wages loss of the blind persons.
Dr Wahidul Islam emphasised on immediate formation of the district level committees under the Vision 2020 and making the existing committees more functional to control the avoidable blindness.
He also stressed the need for creating mass awareness, increasing human resources specially ophthalmologist's assistant along with their training, providing government subsidy to the NGOs, establishing government-NGO collaboration in eye care, including the eye care component of the government's Primary Health Care (PHC) activities to eliminate avoidable blindness from the country.
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