Lions World Sight Day celebrations in Hyd

The Lions World Sight Day (LWSD) celebrations will be held for the first time in India at Hyderabad from October 13-15, 2005. The event is being organised in partnership with Vision 2020, and Andhra Pradesh Right to Sight Society to mark the Lions World Sight Day, observed on the second Thursday of October every year since 1998.

Chigurupati Vara Prasad, chairman of the organising committee, Lions World Sight Day, said, "Lions Clubs International has been working for the removal of blindness. We raised an amount of $140 million amounting to about Rs 600 crore when Campaign SightFirst I was launched in 1989 and used it to set up eye hospitals and conduct IOL operations."

So far, 120 eye hospitals have been established in India by Lions Clubs International, he said.

President Abdul Kalam will participate in the valedictory session of the LWSD celebrations on October 15 where he will launch four projects of Lions "� Diabetic Retinopathy, Sight for Kids, Campaign SightFirst II and Special Olympics Release of new global curriculum.