This was announced by the PGI officials on the occasion of World Glaucoma Day.

The officials added that this will also help in raising awareness about glaucoma, a leading cause of blindness. World Glaucoma Association, World Glaucoma Patient Association, eye care professionals and patient groups are taking part in this effort. Advanced Eye Centre, PGI, Chandigarh, is at the forefront of this effort in northern India.

Glaucoma is an eye disease that causes progressive damage to the optic nerve, which is responsible for conveying visual images to the brain.

If left untreated, it can lead to irreversible blindness due to permanent damage to the optic nerve.

It is estimated that 50 per cent of people (up to 90 per cent in developing countries) who have glaucoma are not aware of it. It puts a large population at the risk of losing their eyesight, stated a statement issued today.

According to World Health Organization estimates, about 314 million people around the world have impaired vision, either due to various eye diseases or due to need for glasses (uncorrected refractive errors). Of these, 45 million people are blind.

More than 82 per cent of all blind are 50 years of age and above, and more than 90 per cent of the world’s visually impaired people live in developing countries like India.

Top five causes of blindness are cataract, refractive errors, glaucoma, age-related macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy.

Glaucoma can occur at any age but it generally affects people above 40 years of age. People over 60 years of age are six times more at risk than the population at large.