Neglecting glaucoma during COVID-19 adds vision-related problems

As the number of COVID-19 infections is reporting moderation, health experts are now turning attention to other diseases including glaucoma that had worsened during the pandemic.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency on the World Glaucoma Week that ends on Saturday, top Indian ophthalmologist Dr. Surinder Singh Pandav said patients with glaucoma were not coming for medical checkups. The patients suffering from the disease need to take medical advice periodically.

Glaucoma is a term used to describe the group of diseases of the eye, and is the second most common cause of irreversible blindness across the globe, according to the World Health Organization.

In India, the government estimates nearly 12 million people are affected in total and around 1.2 million people are blind from the disease.

India saw a devastating second wave last year as the daily infection and fatality figures crossed over 400,000 and 4,500, respectively. This year, another wave, however, was not that lethal and now cases have come below 5,000 a day.

Dr. Pandav, however, said that the good thing is that with cases down, people have started to return.

"We are now seeing them. The present condition of the patients is mixed. Some continued their medicines, others stopped," he said.

He added that it is estimated that 90 % of the glaucoma population does not have the disease.

"If you want to know the risk at the population, we have to screen a large population, which is not possible. Glaucoma doesn't have symptoms and the problem is identified usually when comes to an advanced stage," said Dr. Pandav, adding that the number of those undiagnosed is also very high.

He called for developing trained manpower so the disease can be diagnosed and treated early.

Award-winning Indian ophthalmologist Dr. Jagat Ram told Anadolu Agency that since the burden of glaucoma patients is very huge, more efforts are needed at the government level.

"Our emphasis should be, all patients over 40 years of age, should be screened for various examinations. Given the magnitude of this problem, we need much more effort. We need to make people aware that this is a silent disease," he said.

He noted that there is an important role of doctors, medical institutes to spread awareness.

"When the awareness is created and a message is reached to the society about it, the population would come forward and through that, we can prevent the damage," said Dr. Ram.

Pandav maintains that the number of glaucoma patients is unlikely to go down.

"This is something you can't prevent, so occurrence can't be prevented. They are some types of glaucoma, which can be prevented, but the number is small. But what we can do is prevent the consequences of having glaucoma i.e., visual impairment. So early diagnosis is extremely important," he said.