Shillong, October 16: Bansara Eye Care Centre in collaboration with Society for Promotion of Eye Care and Sight (SPECS), World Diabetes Foundation (WDF), Khasi Student’s Union (KSU), West Khasi Hills along with the Synjuk Ki Seng Longkmie Nongstoin organized a World Sight Day Walk participated by more than 200 people including students from different schools and institutions to mark the World Sight Day in Nongstoin.
The procession started from the Office of PWD New Nongstoin and culminated at the Bishop’s Hall where all the participants gathered together for the World Sight Day function. The objective is to teach and provide awareness to the people of the region about eye care, the importance of sight the cause of blindness, its preventions and treatments. The program took place in the presence of the BDO Nongstoin Mr V. Swer as the Chief Guest, the DMHO Dr. W.W. Phira, the Gen. Secretary KSU West Khasi Hills district along with the Senior Faculty Bansara Institute of Optometry Science (BIOS) Mr Anton Decruse.
The participants included the members of Khasi Student’s Union West Khasi Hills, the members of the Synjuk ki Seng Longkmie Nongstoin, students of Bansara Institute of Optometry Science Shillong, students of different schools in the region along with the staff of Bansara Eye Care Centre Shillong.
In view of the eye sight problems which the region is facing, the Chief Guest expressed his concern saying “a patient with such sickness can be a burden not only to himself but also to his family and the society”. In dealing with this health issue he stated “there are two strategies one which is to mitigate and two is to prevent” He strongly urged to spread the awareness of eye care and prevention of blindness.
Dr. W. W. Phira said that according to a study it was found that there are many children in the region who lacks vitamin-A which causes night blindness. This requires proper intake of nutrients and vitamins rich food. The Gen. Secretary KSU West Khasi Hills, prompted in spreading the awareness of eye care and also aiding people with such problems. Mr Anton Decruse stated that there are 30,000 people who are blind in the state. Apart from these there are 1 lakh people who have avoidable blindness. People of all age groups may go through such problems and this can also be caused by diabetes which directly affect the nerves in the eyes. If there is any problem in sight he urged that one should approach the Health Centre for proper treatment to avoid blindness.
World Sight Day (WSD) is an annual day of awareness held on the second Thursday of October, to focus global attention on blindness and vision impairment. World Sight Day 2016 is on 13th October 2016. This year, the ‘Call to Action’ for World Sight Day is ‘Stronger Together’. This is to raise public awareness of blindness & vision impairment as major public health issues and to educate target audiences about blindness prevention. This year Bansara Eye Care Centre celebrated this day in Nongstoin.
