LOW VISION SERVICES

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• LOW VISION SERVICES
• Dr. Mrs. R. Jose
• Additional Director General
• Directorate General of Health Services
• MOHFW, Government of India
• Nirman Bhawan, New Delhi-110108
• addldghs-mohfw_at_nic.in

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Many visually impaired people experience
difficulty with their household, recreational,
professional and conduct of regular activities of
daily living like gt cooking, gt shopping, gt
managing finances, gt watching television, gt
reading,or taking care of their personal needs
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• There has been an evolutionary process in
  changing attitudes about the blind and blindness
  around the globe.
• About 1,000 years back the attitude was of
  disregard and rejection, isolation and abuse.
  About 100 years back the attitude changed to pity
  and benevolence.
• Currently, there is a positive attitude and
  conducive environment for the growth and
  development of blind persons

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Definition

• Low vision is defined in a person as, who has
  impairment of visual functioning even after
  treatment and/or standard refractive correction,
  and has a visual acuity of less than 6/18 to
  light perception, or a visual field of less than
  10 from the point of fixation, but who uses, or
  is potentially able to use, vision for the
  planning and/or execution of a task.

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Prevalence of low vision in the world

• The estimated number of people with visual
  impairment was in excess of 161 million 37
  million were blind and 124 million had low vision
• The ratio of people with low vision to those with
  blindness ranged from 2.4 to 5.8 For the year
  2002, WHO

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SELECTED LOW VISION AIDS
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NPCB Initiatives for strengthening and developing
Low Vision Services in Eleventh five year plan
2007-12

• Orientation training of health personnel 07 days
  training for eye surgeon
• Strengthening of low vision units in selected
  medical colleges/RIO
• Organization and conduct of awareness generation
  activities including workshops, conferences for
  health teams eye surgeons and mid level worker

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• Financial assistance for provision of low visual
  aids
• High plus spectacles
• Hand held magnifiers
• Stand magnifiers
• Telescopes
• Absorptive lenses
• Field expanding devices
• CCTV
• Collaboration and coordination with stakeholders
  including Min. of Social Justice and
  Empowerment/Education/WCD, State authorities,
  NGOs, and professional bodies etc.

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List of institutes offering Low Vision Services

• Dr. R.P.Centre for Ophthalmic Sciences, AIIMS,
  New Delhi
• Regional Institute of Ophthalmology RIO and
  medical college, Kolkatta
• L.V. Prasad Eye Institute, Hyderabad, AP
• Aravind Eye Hospital and Post Graduate Institute
  of Ophthalmology, Madurai, TN
• Vivekananda Mission Ashram, Medinipur District,
  West Bengal
• Dhamtari Christian Hospital, Dhamtari,
  Chhatisgarh
• Gomabai Netrayala, Neemuch, Madhya Pradesh
• SEWA Rural, District Bharuch, Gujarat
• KBHB Hospital , Mumbai
• Sankar Foundation Eye Hospital, Visakhapatham,
  Andhra Pradesh
• Sri Kanchi Kamakoti Medical Trust, Sankara Eye
  Centre, Coimbatore , Tamil Nadu
•  

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List of institutes offering Low Vision
Services.contd.

• Lotus School of Optometry, Mumbai
• Josefh Eye Hospital, Trichi
• Shankar Netralaya, Chennai
• Viveka Nand Mission Hospital, Haldia West Bengal
• Dr. Shroff Charity Eye Centre, New Delhi
• Venu Eye Institute Research Centre, New Delhi
• Tara Bai Desai Eye Hospital, Jodhpur
• Blind People Association, Vastrapur, Ahmadabad
• C.S.I.Kalyani Multi Speciality Hospital, Chennai
• Christian Medical College, Ludhiana