Prolonged exposure to android phones and television sets, especially during the Covid-19 lockdown days had left negative impact on the eye health of the children, which has started resulting psychological effects on the kids, too, suggested the eye experts after a cornea transplant of a patient in Durgapur town today.
Dr Priyansha Chatterjee, chairperson of Dvita hospital here said: “We’ve observed the irreversible cylindrical eye power of the kids has increased substantially due to the exorbitant exposure.” Dr Amit Das, cornea surgeon of the hospital said, “Cases of retinoblastoma – commonly called eye cancer – have also been recorded in the South Bengal hospitals in recent days, which needs further studies.”
Dr Sanjoy Chatterjee, head of Regional Institute of Ophthalmology, Kolkata said, “What we’ve observed, it’s a case mostly of pediatric ophthalmology as it’s congenital. Such cases are mostly found in the north Bengal districts of the sub-Himalayan region.”
In India, 0.24 million cases of blindness among the children are recorded against 4.95 million total blind cases. Dr Amit claimed: “There are currently 1,20,000 corneal blind persons in India.” He and his team managed cornea transplant of Chaina Mukherjee, a 67-year-old woman from Andal near here, the pioneering work at the state of the art hospital and the surgery expense was borne by the chairman of another hospital, Dr Satyajit Bose, incidentally.