L V Prasad Eye Institute’s Mithu Tulsi Chanrai Campus in Bhubaneswar organised a Retinoblastoma (Eye Cancer) Awareness Walk on Sunday.
The walk is part of the ‘Whitathon’ event organized by L V Prasad Eye Institute across its campuses in Bhubaneswar, Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam and Vijayawada. Celebrity actor, Mr Sabyasachi Mishra, interacted with Retinoblastoma survivors at the campus.
Whitathon is L V Prasad Eye Institute’s annual cause-related event focused on raising awareness for early diagnosis and treatment of retinoblastoma – a life and vision-threatening eye cancer that occurs in small children.
Advertisement
The commonest presenting sign of retinoblastoma is the White Reflex (or, white glow)in a child’s eye. Dr Dev jyoti Tripathy, Ocular Oncologist, said, “Our aim is to raise awareness about early detection and treatment of retinoblastoma eye cancer in children within the community. No child should die of eye cancer because of lack of awareness and delayed diagnosis and treatment”.
Dr Tripathy further added that it is time to make detailed eye check-ups a part of mandatory paediatric examinations.
Retinoblastoma (eye cancer) most commonly affects children below 3 years of age(90%), 20 to 25% of cases of eye cancer worldwide in children are from India, and nearly half of the cases worldwide lose their lives due to late detection and inadequate treatment, mostly in the lower middle-income and lower income countries of the world.
Advertisement
