To throw more light on eye care and need for more optometrists, to provide better vision to people, a novel campaign is set to be launched on Thursday.

The initiative through ‘Ollie the Optometrist’ will coincide with the second anniversary of India Vision Institute, here. It will be a national awareness campaign aimed to assist 10 crore Indians getting to enjoy life and be productive by just getting a pair of glasses.

Ollie the Optometrist is a new character created by The Wizard of Oz Show, a popular Australian theatre group. Ollie will serve as a mascot for the optometry and eye care awareness campaign to be launched by the Australian High Commissioner to India, Patrick Suckling.

G.N. Rao, Chairman L.V. Prasad Eye Institute, Brien Holden, CEO of Brien Holden Vision Institute, David Holly, Australian Consul General for South India and Vinod Daniel, CEO of India Vision Institute will be part of the programme to launch the campaign tomorrow.

“A pair of glasses is less than three days wage even for a person on minimum wages and will provide many Indians who struggle with uncorrected refractive error a better quality of life just through providing them an ability to see,” said Vinod Daniel.

India needs 110,000 optometrists and it has about 45,000. This campaign will also highlight optometry as a rewarding career to high school students.

India Vision Institute, a joint initiative of the Brien Holden Vision Institute, Australia, and the LV Prasad Eye Institute, supports research, education and technological development in vision correction, eye disease and blindness prevention.

>somasekhar.m@thehindu.co.in

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