Jayanth Bhuvaraghan, Chief Mission Officer, Essilor International (EI), in an interaction with Express Healthcare, informs that awareness on uncorrected poor vision is the need of the hour and further elucidates that there should be an increased awareness by central and state governments amongst drivers on vision correction, regular eye checks for safe driving
Can you tell us what would be the complexities of uncorrected refractive error (URE)? Share a few global and national level statistics?
Uncorrected poor vision is the world’s largest disability. An estimated 2.5 billion people globally, one in three people, suffer from uncorrected refractive errors, including myopia, hyperopia, presbyopia and astigmatism. For India, approximately 550 million people have refractive errors that remain uncorrected. Globally, the estimated cost in lost productivity for the economy due to uncorrected refractive error is $272 billion per year. In India, $37 billion is wasted in lost productivity. By 2050, an estimated five billion people, or half the world’s population, will suffer from myopia. However, 80 per cent of uncorrected refractive error can be corrected or cured.
Why is uncorrected refractive error a big issue in India?
Globally, 23 per cent of drivers have uncorrected vision. In India, a whooping 42 per cent of drivers have uncorrected refractive errors. At a time when road accidents increased by 17.6 per cent between 2008-2012 and when there are 400 deaths per day due to road traffic accidents in India, it’s time to take a hard look at the correlation between safer roads and checking your vision. We consider the primary barriers to good vision for everyone to be either lack of awareness about good vision or lack access to vision care.
Access to eye care differs across geographies. In India only seven optometrists are available per one million people. To put this into perspective, Spain has 365 optometrists, the US has 129 optometrists, and Australia has 216 optometrists per one million people. If there has to be a fundamental shift in access to care, we must be open to innovative solutions across the continuum of care and prioritise vision as part of the overall healthcare agenda.
Can you elaborate on the three-year partnership between Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile, governing body of motorsports events and EI. What is your key agenda in India?
Through this three-year partnership, EI and the FIA are combining two objectives into one common ambition for the greater good: ensuring safe mobility across the world by improving people’s sight. The purpose of this partnership is to fight the lack of awareness on this global health issue and highlight the importance of regular eye checks for safe driving. Through the call to action, ‘Check your vision’ we aim to encourage people to visit an eye care practitioner for regular eye checks. We are delighted to have the support of the optical industry’s governing body, World Council of Optometry for this partnership and important cause.
Earlier this year, FIA announced a new golden rule, ‘Check your vision’, which also represents a major step in raising awareness on poor vision as a major public health issue. It will add on to the FIA’s existing golden rules for road safety on other key risk factors such as speed, alcohol, seatbelt (e.g. ‘Obey the speed limit,’ ‘Never drink and drive,’ ‘Buckle up,’ etc.).
What are your findings from the study conducted by Central Road Research Institute (CRRI) on visual limitations of commercial drivers in metropolitan cities in India? How do vision-related issues lead to road accidents?
The VII-CRRI preliminary study was conducted in Delhi on 627 commercial drivers and following were the findings:
- One in every three drivers had either marginal or poor far visual acuity
- Half the drivers surveyed had either marginal or poor near visual acuity
- 19 per cent were severely colour blind and 34 per cent were glare blind (discomfort in the eye due to bright light entering the field of vision, particularly when the eye is adapted to darkness, for e.g. night driving)
- 29 per cent drivers fall under unacceptable range in the depth perception test
The study highlights that there is a correlation between limited vision and accidents. 6 per cent with marginal or unacceptable near vision and 8 per cent who were detected with marginal or unacceptable far vision were involved
in accidents.
Do you have any programme which focuses on drivers? Are you partnering or engaging with central government or state governments?
The VII is working closely with the central government in India to encourage education of commercial drivers about vision correction and its benefits and also to suggest policy changes as it relates to the license renewal for commercial drivers.
What kind of policies should be in place at the central level to help the state governments engage better?
We recommend the following tests that all drivers must go through while applying for a fresh license or renewal of license and to be included in the Form 1(A) of the license application:
- Binocular testing: All tests must be done with both eyes open to replicate everyday vision
- Far-point visual acuity: Test for distance vision
- Near-point visual acuity: Test for near vision
- Stereopsis: Test for depth perception
- Colour blindness: To test for deficiencies in colour perception
- Contrast sensitivity: To test low light/ night vision
Efforts should be made by both the central and state government to increase awareness amongst drivers on importance of having periodic eye check-ups and on importance of wearing a prescribed spectacle while driving.
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