An NGO running a vision screening programme in remote areas has claimed that it conducted a record 31,000 tests in August.
The India Vision Institute (IVI) in a statement said, "The activities included 18,404 vision screenings in tribal schools in remote communities in Tamil Nadu's Kolli Hills, Namakkal, and Salem."
"As many as 2,047 screenings took place in schools across Chennai, as well as 8,993 screenings in Odisha's Boudh and Cuttack districts, Hauz Khas village in Delhi, and Nuh in Mewat, Haryana," it said.
The IVI is a not-for-profit registered trust focussed on supporting and promoting eye health awareness, research, education and technological development in Indian optometry to advance capacity in vision correction, and prevention of eye disease and blindness.
"IVI's activities during the month (August) continue to touch lives in remote corners of India with little or no access to vision screening," said IVI CEO Vinod Daniel.
"With an estimated 62 million visually impaired in India, including eight million blind, it is a challenge. Our efforts in August will impact a good segment of the population in these states," he said.
At a special event organised by IVI, 120 children screened earlier from among 1,942 at the Chennai Higher Secondary School received spectacles from the leader of the visiting Australian Trade Mission 2019, Mayor Stephen Bali MP of Blacktown City in New South Wales (NSW), the NGO said
Nathan Rees, a former Premier of NSW and a member of the Trade Mission, also distributed spectacles at the school.
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