Venue: Karnataka Institute of
Endocrinology and Research (KIER), Bengaluru
Blue Circle Diabetes Foundation, India’s largest
patient-led diabetes organisation and a registered non-profit in collaboration
with Karnataka Institute of Endocrinology and Research (KIER), organised Care for Vision: Retinal Health in Diabetes,
a multi-stakeholder workshop focused on raising awareness, encouraging early
detection, and improving management of diabetic eye complications. The event
brought together people with lived experience of diabetes, leading
ophthalmologists, physicians, public health experts, and government
representatives under one roof.
Key highlights from the
event:
●
Unique, interactive multilingual workshop conducted in
Kannada & English with a panel featuring ophthalmologists, vitroretinal
specialists, endocrinologists & people living with diabetes.
● Early detection &
management: Speakers discussed how high glucose increases risk for retinopathy
and highlighted the need for regular eye screening and glycemic control.
Shakeer, a patient advocate, shared his lived experience of retinopathy.
● Advances & access: The
panel also explored diagnostics like OCT, intravitreal injections, green laser
treatment, and therapies that can stabilise or reverse damage when combined
with timely care and affordability as highlighted by Dr Dinesh (Associate Prof,
Dept of Vitro Retina, KIER), Dr Thirumalesh (Senior Consultant, Narayana
Nethralaya) & others.
● Call for
advocacy: All panelists agreed on the urgent need for greater awareness and
stronger advocacy by patient organisations to complement medical efforts and
ensure wider impact.
Although unable to attend in person, Dr. Chandrika,
Deputy Director for Family Welfare, Department of Health, shared her support.
She highlighted Karnataka’s initiatives such as the Gruha Aarogya door-to-door
screening programme, universal screening after age 30 for eye, lipid, and
lifestyle risks, strengthening government health facilities, and expanding
access through vision centres and 90 established teleretinopathy facilities.
She also stressed the importance of addressing complications like
neovascularisation that can lead to vision loss.
This workshop also highlighted the urgent and often
overlooked burden of retinal complications among people with diabetes in India.
While treatment options are available, they remain out of reach for many due to
high out-of-pocket costs. People with diabetes already face the significant
daily burden of insulin and other essential medications & adding
preventable vision loss further impacts quality of life and livelihood. There
is a pressing need for financial support mechanisms and active involvement from
government health programmes to ensure equitable access to preventive eye
screening and care.
This was part of a national workshop series which
began in Mumbai, followed by Hyderabad, Bengaluru & will also take place in
Chennai & Delhi. The initiative aligns with the upcoming United Nations
High-Level Meeting on NCDs (Non Communicable Diseases) in 2025, reinforcing the
need for community-led, multisectoral efforts to protect vision and improve
diabetes outcomes in India.