'Mega eye camp' held
Source: Hueiyen News Service
Imphal, May 25 2014:
Aimed at controlling blindness, a one-day mega eye camp, the first of its kind in Manipur, was held at Kodompokpi Mamang Leikai community hall in Naoriya Pakhanglakpa constituency in Imphal West on Saturday.
Doctors and paramedics from RIMS and JNIMS conducted the eye camp, which was organized under the aegis of Association of Community Ophthalmologists of India (ACOI) .
Active volunteers of Meira Paibi Kodompokpi Mayai Leikai extended assistance during the medical team.
Six teams made up of five doctors each also conducted door to door eye checkups and simultaneously another team of 15 doctors carried out the same at the community hall.
Prof Swapan Kumar Samanta, General Secretary of ACOI and Associate Professor, Department of Ophthalmology, Kolkata National Medical College, who were also present during the camp said that ACOI's work is entirely based on "advocacy in community eye health around the Indian subcontinent" .
Swapan said some of the founding members of the association have received training in the field from London based International Centre for Eye Health (ICEH).
Controlling blindness in India is the only objective of ACOI, he added, pointing out that ACOI now has 417 members across India and 15 of them from Manipur.
Zenith Academy founder and social worker S Manaoton who sponsored the Camp stated that persons with visibility defects and also cataract problems were detected during the camp.
A survey was also conducted to determine the number of patients who will be provided facility of low cost surgeries at different hospitals.