Eye care experts, Bausch and Lomb have announced the launch of a nationwide Lasik education programme in association with leading eyecare practitioners across the country.

The company is already believed to have held talks with the L V Prasad Eye Institute for technical support and will further seek the services of its Lasik team to address the specialists in the region with help from several practitioners.

The move follows the feedback that was received from various ophthalmologists throughout the country and through various articles that were published in the media where it was suggested that while Lasik was a safe vision correction procedure, it was critical for the practitioner to lay down criteria of patient selection to minimize the risks associated with it. Several interactive meetings with specialists and media across the country had therefore established the need for a large-scale programme on Lasik.

Earlier Bausch and Lomb had been conducting similar programmes for contact lens specialists through campaigns such as the Indian Contact Lens Education Programme in association with L V Prasad Institute.

Commenting on the programme, J P Singh, managing director, Bausch and Lomb said, "The programme is an initiative to increase the awareness levels about the procedure to the industry, practitioners and end-users. The program will handle education at a technical level along with patient selection criteria and would advise the consumers on the procedure in general."

Already Bausch and Lomb have established a role model to conduct such programs from the ongoing Indian Contact Lens Education Programme that has been conducted for over 10 years now. "The Lasik program is envisaged to be similar, both I structure and scale", concluded Singh.