Karnataka will implement its project 'Vision 2020 Right to Sight' programme on October 10 this year as a part of the World Sight Day programme.

The project draft is ready, Dr. Chandrashekar Shetty, technical advisor, Lions Club International Foundation told Pharmabiz.com.

The foundation's first sight programme was launched at the Minto Ophthalmic Hospital here recently and Dr. Shetty said the programme will deal with the refractive errors of the eye, corneal blindness, glaucoma, cataract and other causes of blindness. The programme is aimed at providing quality eye care to poor people.

The Lions Club International Foundation donated ophthalmic equipment worth Rs. 24 lakh to Minto Hospital.

Dr. Shetty said that so far a total of 136 hospitals and six training centres had been set up and over 200 other hospitals upgraded at a cost of $21 million in the country as part of the Foundation's 'Sight First Programme' started in 1990 aimed at prevention and cure of blindness. "Under the Sight First programme, three lakh cataract surgeries have been performed in South India. Of these 65,000 were done in Karnataka," he said.

According to panel of ophthalmologists in Minto Hospital the mobilisation of resources was necessary to deal with various diseases and the State government should give priority to preventive and remedial medicine more so in the rural areas.