Low Vision Care in India: A Time for Action!

With a national population now estimated at 1.1 billion people (and growing!), it is often stated that India accounts for 1/3 of all blind and visually impaired individuals in this world! If this statement is correct, this means that there are 5–6 million visually impaired and blind individuals in India. Although certainly real progress is being made, one can reasonably ask, is the existing organizational structure designed to serve the needs of so large a number of people, and are the necessary care-providers available to provide for visual rehabilitation requirements of this very substantial cohort of affected patients? Both continuing growth and aging of the Indian population tend to challenge the capacity of that nation to meet demands for ophthalmic services, as well as their ability to meet the visual rehabilitation requirements of this populace. Modern optometry is, in many ways, a nascent profession in India. On behalf of the large cohort of visually impaired patients, I argue that a difference ca...