Making vision count

World Sight Day (WSD) is observed annually on the second Thursday in October. On this day of awareness aimed at focusing global attention on blindness and vision impairment, the call to action is “Make Vision Count.”

The emphasis will be on those who are especially vulnerable: the young, schoolchildren and the elderly. The causes of avoidable blindness in these at-risk groups include uncorrected refracted error, cataracts, glaucoma and diabetes.

This year a team of volunteers for WSD will partner with the National Library and Information System (Nalis) in an effort to draw attention to eye care issues that impact lives everywhere. The main focus will be through an educational eye care exhibition which will be mounted from October 30 to November 10.

The official opening ceremony takes place on November 1 from 10 am to 11 am in the audio visual room at Nalis. After this, the public is invited to a symposium on eye care from 11.15 am in the AV room, hosted by the Department of Clinical Surgical Sciences, the University of the West Indies and the exhibition.

The display will give some historical perspectives of eye care in TT, including honouring the first Trinidadian ophthalmic surgeon Dr Arthur Hutton McShine, a former student of Queen’s Royal College and mayor of Port of Spain.