`Babloo…’ eye care publication

Addressing the eye-care issue to a young child in a simple, amusing but factual style, which children find both fun and reassuring, is the core idea behind the small, illustrated booklet `Babloo goes for an eye-test’ – authored by Dr. Narendra Kumar and published by Optometry Today for the charitable trust Eye Care India.

Besides being a maiden effort in writing for children on eye-care, the purpose is to create the much-needed eye-care awareness. And the highlighted areas include School, Cricket, T.V., Animal welfare, Veterinary doctor, Pharmaceutical drops, Eye doctor (Optometrist-Ophthalmologist), Battery torch, Retinoscope, Ophthalmoscope, Distant vision test types, Spectacle frame, and Plastic ophthalmic lenses.

To promote the concept of basic eye-care, the booklet is intended to be subscribed by nursery and primary school libraries as well by eye care professionals for their reception areas. It has been acclaimed both in India and in overseas countries, and was recently featured in the widely-read Italian optical magazine Vedere International, May 2009 issue. And will soon be available for “free” download on the website http://optometrytoday.org

Dr. Narendra Kumar

On hardships

Leaving aside the issue of the non-introduction of Government legislation to regulate the practice of optometry even after its introduction in the country way back in the year 1958, let me this time focus on the miseries of the average citizen.

Land-line phone going dead or disturbance creeping in, daily newspaper full of crime stories, market flooding with counterfeit currency notes, blatant encroachment on public land, menace of unauthorized weekly markets, rising inflation, and above all frequent electric load-shedding…all play the nerve-racking game like the childish bickering of our legislators in the parliament, forgetting, and not caring, about the basic issues to provide some relief to the common man in terms of food, clothing and dwelling. Yes, God is surely there; otherwise how could life go on in the face of such hardships?

Dr. Narendra Kumar

Home decor

Besides the best possible clinical set-up, the eye care professional tries to maintain certain decor at home as well. And, the soft, serene surroundings in the most-commonly-occupied area of the house, the lobby - like a work of nature’s photograph - are eye- and soul-soothing for the entire family.

The picture depicts the 65”x44” framed photo of Hyde Park London supplied by Podar Group of Concerns, Mumbai (ajaypodar@hotmail.com).

Dr. Narendra Kumar

Medical tourism to India

Economic slowdown has affected innumerable persons the world-over. Those affected in the West appear to have started trimming household expenditures to save up for a needed surgery as also to wait longer to undergo the scalpel.

The encouraging factor is that the surgical expertise in India matches the best available elsewhere, and procedures like cataract removal by phacoemulsification and oculo-plastic surgery for Ptosis correction at a private centre in Delhi, along with the air fare, cost much less than what one would otherwise have paid at home. “The costs in India are about half of that in the West, and the surgical expertise comparable to the best elsewhere”, says ophthalmic surgeon Dr. Maneesh Kumar (ophthacare@gmail.com).

The picture shows the condition of pre- and post-operative bilateral Ptosis.

Dr. Narendra Kumar

CLEP

Although optometry was introduced in India way back in the year 1958, and there are now around 100 institutions imparting training ranging in duration between 2 and 4 years leading to diploma and degree qualifications respectively, the subject of contact lenses is not covered in the 2-year diploma in optometry course, and diploma-optometrists, thus, find themselves at a disadvantage when they enter into practice or serve at an establishment.

The charitable trust Eye Care India (kumars@vsnl.com) conducts 3-day (15-hour) Contact Lens Education Program – CLEP – for diploma optometrists covering the theoretical and practical aspects of the basics of contact lens fitting. And the photograph shows the participants of one such event held at School of Optometry, Jan Kalyan Eye Hospital, Lucknow.

Dr. Narendra Kumar

Explore the market in India

Even in the face of economic downturn, the ceiling for luxury foods in India continues to rise, e.g., while a liquor brand readies to launch a Rs.20 lakh (US $ 40,000) per bottle whisky in Delhi, local vegetable sellers continue to find buyers for guchchi (a rare mushroom) that comes for Rs.19,000/- (US $ 380) a kg. And the same is true for opticals and other eye- and hearing-care products.

At the time of my 2005 visit to International Optical Fair Tokyo, one exhibitor remarked, “we make expenstive frames, and India is hardly the market for these”, to which I replied, “India houses the poorest of the poor as also richest of the rich people”.

Optometry Today quarterly journal is currently accepting advertisements for its June 2008 issue under “1+1” offer, whereby the ad will be repeated free in September 2009 issue. Advertising on special positions like `Centre-spead’ and `Cover’ pages is booked on first-come-first-served basis, and details of advertising can be requested from

And although deadline to receive material is 31st May 2009, the earlier the space is booked the better.

Optometry Today, the official organ of Eye Care India, has been in publication since 1970.

Dr. Narendra Kumar

The festival of colours

Over the years, the holy festival of `holi’ has turned unholy because of the use of harmful colours necessitating advice from ophthalmologist Dr. Umesh Bareja of Sitaram Bhartiya Institute of Science & Research for the use of disposable contact lenses to protect eyes from chemicals-infested colours.

Gone are the days when the festival of colours used to be looked upon as the time of saying `hello’ even to foes. And the urge of using milk instead of colours by maker of Paras Milk is pleasantly striking!

Dr. Narendra Kumar