Sankara Nethralaya opens optometry school in the city

KOLKATA: In a state where approximately 1.66 per cent of the population suffers from blindness, the inauguration of the Sankara Nethralaya Elite School of Optometry (SNESO) in Kolkata comes as a welcome move. On Saturday, at a city hotel in New Town, the new college was inaugurated in the presence of West Bengal Assembly Speaker Biman Banerjee, Dr Partha Pratim Lahiri, Registrar, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad University of Technology, Basudeb Banerjee, Former Chief Secretary, Government of West Bengal, Dr T S Surendran, Chairman of the Medical Research Foundation and Dr Sujatha Guha, Medical Director of Sankara Nethralaya, Kolkata.

“West Bengal has a prevalence of almost 1.66% of blindness. So, we need different health professionals to cater to the different eye care needs here. Almost 40 years ago, the Elite School of Optometry (ESO) was established in Chennai as the first modern school of optometry in India to offer a four-year professional degree programme. Now, this college in Kolkata will uphold the same high standards of academic quality, clinical exposure, and research rigor. SNESO will offer 30 seats for the Bachelor of Optometry programme in its New Town campus,” said Dr N Anuradha, principal of the Sankara Nethralaya Elite School of Optometry.

She further added that the course will begin from September 9 onwards. Meanwhile, she also informed how cataract is the most common cause for blindness. The college will have three years of academic training and one year of internship in different clinical specialties. Very soon, Masters of Optometry will start in the Kolkata institute.