WHO marks World Sight Day Thursday

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MANILA, Philippines–The World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness celebrate World Sight Day Thursday to draw attention to blindness, visual impairment and rehabilitation of the visually impaired.

St. Luke’s Medical Center (SLMC-Global City) Eye Institute head Dr. Noel G. Chua said World Sight Day seeks to come up with a global action plan to battle treatable eye ailments, with governments mandated to draw action plans for the 285 million people with low vision and the 39 million blind worldwide.

Dr. Chua said that both SLMC facilities in Global City and Quezon City will offer a three-day promo on discounted packages from Oct. 9 to 11, 2014, in line with the celebration, particularly for the most common treatable eye diseases. These include packages for biometry, glaucoma screening, diabetic retinopathy, age-related macular degeneration and optic neuropathy.

The theme of this year’s World Sight Day celebration is “No More Avoidable Blindness,” which means that eye ailments like glaucoma, cataract, diabetic retinopathy, macular degeneration and optic neuropathy would be given added attention so that those afflicted would continue to have quality of life, Dr. Chua said.

For inquiries on treatable eye diseases, call the St. Luke’s Eye Institute at tel. 7897700 ext. 2024 (Global City) and 7230101 or 723 0301 ext. 5422/4143 (Quezon City).