NEW DELHI: As India is dubbed the diabetic capital of the world, there is a growing concern that diabetic retinopathy (DR), an eye condition that can cause vision loss and blindness in people who have diabetes, will increase in the next two decades in the country.With approximately 1 in 3 people with diabetes said to develop diabetic retinopathy (DR), which usually impacts visual impairment in the working age group, and 10% of vision-threatening Diabetic Macular Edema , experts said there is an urgent need for the union government to include its treatments under Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (Ab-PM-JAY).Speaking with this paper, Dr Rupak Kanti Biswas, Director and Consultant VR surgeon at Netralayam Eye Hospital, Kolkata, said that if a person has had type 2 diabetes for more than 20 years, then 70% of those individuals will be affected by diabetic retinopathy.“The majority of diabetes cases are now in people below 50 years. So, in their lifetime, they will develop diabetic retinopathy. Seventy to eighty per cent of them will develop it. That’s huge,” he said.Biswas, who was here to attend the just concluded 40th Asia-Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology (APAO) Congress, emphasised that treating the disease at an early stage is key.“The most important aspect of treatment is preventing blindness. Preventable blindness is a key focus, and time is a critical factor. The earlier the intervention, the better the outcomes. Once a preventable condition progresses to an irreversible stage, it can no longer be classified as preventable blindness. This is why timely intervention is crucial in managing diabetic retinopathy,” he said.
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