Nearly 5% of Sri Lankan population is currently suffering from glaucoma, according to the Secretary to the Ministry of Health, specialist Dr. Palitha Mahipala.
Explaining further, Dr. Mahipala stated that there is a significant increase in the number of glaucoma patients not only in Sri Lanka but also across the world, adding that the disease was also one of the main causes of blindness.
“If you take the world, 3.54% are suffering from glaucoma, but if you take Sri Lanka, it’s almost 5%. This may also be because of our increased elderly population,” he explained, emphasising the importance of going for regular eye check-ups, and making use of the programmes in place within the country’s health system to detect eye illnesses early.
Glaucoma is a group of eye diseases that can cause vision loss and blindness by damaging a nerve in the back of the eye called the optic nerve.
Source: the morning
