Female patients in India receive less eye care

Women in India are less likely to receive  eye care that requires large out of pocket expenses than men and receive less eye care generally, except for those involving cosmetic appearance.

This is according to a cross-sectional survey of hospital records presented at the Orbis session at the XXXIII Congress of the ESCRS in Barcelona. The study which was awarded the Orbis medal, for the best poster or free paper in terms of promoting the global fight against preventable blindness, was presented by Kuldee Dole MD, Pune India.

It showed that females accessed more primary eye care services whereas males accessed more services at secondary and tertiary eye care level in terms of   outpatient treatment  refractive aids and cataract surgery.Female and male patients  accounted for roughly similar percentages of those receiving treatment for corneal and retinal indications and glaucoma. However, the differences were much greater with regard to oculoplastic surgery, where women accounted for 57.84 percent of patients on the other hand male patient accounted for 57.01 per cent  paediatric patients.

Among patients not receiving treatment for cataracts until their visual acuity was less than 6/60, not having someone to escort them to an eye  check-up was cited as the principal factor by  60.42 per cent  of female patients, compared to  24.39 per cent of male patients. “As a suggestion we feel that outreach services should provide transportation facilities along with screening patient at primary level and at the tertiary level they could be offered phacoemulsification at a discounted rate,” Dr Dole concluded.