“When it comes to the cost of our healthcare, the status quo is unsustainable… if we fail to act, one out of every five dollars we earn will be spent on healthcare within a decade.” — Former US President Barack Obama
Imagine this: a busy vision care clinic in India, buzzing with patients of all ages, each facing their own unique challenge in an ever-evolving healthcare landscape. According to TechSci Research, the population in India is aging at a rapid rate-from 153 million today to 347 million by 2050. The growth brings not only a startlingly quick pace of aging but also an increasing number of age-related eye disorders: cataracts, glaucoma, and macular degeneration. As many as 11.9 million Indians were found suffering from glaucoma, with resulting blindness among 8.9 million, accounting for 12.8 percent of overall blindness in the country.
Now, let’s add to this another layer of crisis. Countless hours in front of the screens, poor diets, and sedentary lifestyles breed a whole new wave of eye issues, such as myopia and computer vision syndrome
The situation in rural India is graver still. The shortage of services has led to a huge backlog of treatment for preventable vision loss. It is a fact that the government and the private sector are making efforts, while the awareness of the people about the importance of regular check-up of eyes is increasing, it is outpacing the resources that are available.
So, how do we bridge this gap?
India’s diabetes epidemic is no secret, and it’s one of the major contributors to vision impairment. Growing prevalence of diabetes due to urbanization, lifestyle changes, and increase in population are making the scenario of Type 2 diabetes like a ticking bomb for loss of vision globally in the last two decades. It is preventable in large ways, though.
Are Indians losing their ‘vision’ in a quest for a better life?
And the statistics? They are a wake-up call. Of the 10 crore diabetics in India, 1 crore suffer from diabetic retinopathy, wherein high blood sugar damages the retina. Of these, 30 lakh patients need immediate treatment. However, there are only around 24,000 ophthalmologists in the country-just 13 per million people-and the shortage can be quite an obstacle to overcome in battling retinal diseases.
Most importantly, many of these people live in low- and middle-income countries, such as India, for whom preventive care remains just a dream.
In contrast, the West has been investing heavily in preventive healthcare for years, embedding it into daily life. In India, however, many households are still not prioritising preventive care, leaving them vulnerable to massive financial stress when medical emergencies arise.
Why preventive healthcare?
Not only is preventive healthcare a buzzword, but it’s also very scientifically based, be it herbal remedies such as Triphala to nutraceutical solutions, promising treatments are arising for everything from age-related macular degeneration and digital eye strain. Medical studies confirm that Type 2 diabetes can be managed-even prevented-through exercise, healthy eating, and the right nutraceuticals.
Take blue light, for instance: it’s not just a problem of sunlight, but screens from things like phones, computers, or TVs emit blue light that seems to severely damage our eyeballs over time. Much of this can be partly prevented through regular use and application of nature’s concoctions to save our optics and reverse some of what has been lost.
Catch Them Young
While households can immediately start investing in preventive healthcare and the nutra companies will surely take steps to bring in the best and the safest products to every home, the Government of India must, without any further delay, introduce preventive healthcare in school curriculums.
Let me give you an example of an initiative we, at OmniActive Health Technologies, had undertaken in rural Karnataka which involved families of around 1,500 farmers as part of corporate social responsibility activities. In one of our surveys we found in a particular village most kids suffering from dysentery. Further investigation revealed the main cause of the problem was due to lack of proper hygiene such as not washing of hands.
We organised a camp that solely focused on children, where more than 500 kids were taught to wash hands in a correct way, and frequently. These children, in turn, got their parents and other family members to follow the hygiene protocols and soon enough, the cases of dysentery in the village came down to nil.
The Government of India and the education sector need to show vision here, pun intended. The ideal way to create a healthy society is to create and invest in a preventive healthcare system, and for that to happen, the beginning must be from the school classrooms. Remember how Apple founder Steve Jobs in 1982 created the ‘Kids Can’t Wait’ programme and donated a computer to each of around 9,000 elementary and secondary schools in California. And the rest, as they say, is history.
The High Cost of Inaction
Preventable vision loss is a tragedy, and it’s one we can’t afford to ignore. We live in an era where human aspirations drive economies—but those aspirations can’t be fully realised if we can’t see clearly. Vision loss, diabetes, and related complications don’t have to be inevitable. With timely intervention and a national focus on preventive care, India can make a lasting difference.
So, let’s stop waiting. The tools to prevent, and even reverse, vision damage are available today. The time to act is now.
