• Why does the world pause every October to look after its eyes, and how the College of Ophthalmologists of SL is helping a Nation see?

In the year 2000, the world’s eye-health community came together around one simple message: prevent avoidable blindness and protect the gift of sight. That message has not changed in more than two decades. The World Sight Day is observed on the second Thursday of October, and this year (2026) it fell on 8 October. It reminds the public, decision-makers and health-service providers that eyesight is a foundation of a good life. Sight is how a child learns, how a farmer reads the sky, how a grandmother recognises her grandchildren, and how a worker earns a living. It is also easy to take for granted until it begins to fade.

The scale of what is at stake is large. The WHO estimates that 2.2 billion people worldwide live with some form of near or distance vision impairment, and nearly 30 per cent of them live in the WHO South-East Asia Region, which includes Sri Lanka. At least one billion of these cases could have been prevented or have yet to be addressed. The remedies are largely known, and many are as simple as a pair of spectacles or a surgery lasting a few minutes, yet, millions still live with impaired vision because that help has not reached them.

Cataract and Glaucoma

The WHO’s latest estimates break the picture down. Cataract accounts for about 94 million cases contributing to distance vision impairment or blindness, and uncorrected refractive error for 88.4 million. Glaucoma, which damages the optic nerve and often gives no warning until the damage is permanent, accounts for 7.7 million, and diabetic retinopathy for 3.9 million. About 826 million more live with unaddressed near-vision impairment from presbyopia, the age-related loss of close focus. The WHO projects that by 2030, the world will have 2.1 billion people with presbyopia and 3.36 billion with myopia, or short-sightedness.

The statistics that matter the most are about access. In low-income countries, two out of every three people who need glasses do not have them, and globally, one in two people who need cataract surgery cannot get it. Behind each number is a person who stopped working, a child who fell behind in class, or an older relative who stopped walking outside after a fall. Vision loss falls most heavily on low-income families, women and older people, the groups least able to pay for an eye examination or a pair of spectacles.

The said Region has taken stock of how far it has to go. Its World Sight Day statement this year noted that cataract, uncorrected refractive error and diabetic retinopathy together account for more than 90% of the Region’s blind and visually impaired population. In 2021, the World Health Assembly endorsed two global eye-care targets for 2030, and the Region has committed to both: a 40-percentage-point increase in effective refractive error coverage and a 30-percentage-point increase in effective cataract surgical coverage. The starting points are modest, at about 27% and 26%, respectively. The Regional action plan adds a commitment to screen 80% of people with diabetes for retinopathy and to treat 80% of those found with sight-threatening disease.

The Region has eliminated trachoma

There is good news as well. The Region has eliminated trachoma as a public health problem, following the validation of Timor-Leste last month (September). Sri Lanka and seven other countries have begun rolling out the WHO’s SPECS 2030 initiative to widen access to spectacles, and Sri Lanka, together with Bhutan and the Maldives, is developing a national eye health strategy built on those principles. The WHO has also published a free app – WHOeyes - that lets people check their visual acuity at home. It does not replace an examination by an eye-care professional, it helps people notice a problem early and act on it.

The Ophthalmological Society of Ceylon

In Sri Lanka, much of this work is carried out by one professional body - the College of Ophthalmologists of Sri Lanka (COSL). Its roots go back to 1 December 1957, when clinicians met at the Victoria Memorial Eye Hospital in Colombo to form the Ophthalmological Society of Ceylon, the second-oldest specialist association in the country, with Dr W H D Ferdinands as its founding President. The COSL was formally established in 1991 as its direct continuation. It is the only professional body of Ophthalmologists in the country, with its office at the National Eye Hospital in Colombo, the main training centre for ophthalmic postgraduate trainees, technologists and nurses. Working alongside the Health Ministry, it carries out the functions of Vision 2020 in Sri Lanka, the global initiative to eliminate avoidable blindness.

Much of the College’s work happens out of public view. It advises the Ministry, takes part in national and regional policy decisions, and sees itself as the collective voice of the profession. It trains specialists, holds an annual congress and publishes a peer-reviewed journal. Its subcommittees include the Glaucoma Interest Group and Retina Sri Lanka, and its partners range from the Ministry and the WHO to the National Eye Bank. At a recent congress, research was presented on a teleophthalmology model designed so that a patient in a remote village has the same chance of early diagnosis as one living near a major hospital. Today, the College is led by its President for 2026, Dr K R Dayawansa.

That work has led to the College’s best-known initiative. Sri Lanka has skilled eye surgeons; the difficulty is getting the care to everyone who needs it. The idea behind the Gift of Vision was born in March of last year (2025), when Dr Kusum Ratnayake was the President of the College, and he is the initiator of the project. At the time, there was growing public concern about long waiting lists for cataract surgery. The country was not short of surgeons. The delays came from the system around them: limited operating-theatre time, insufficient equipment, and logistical and administrative hurdles. Instead of accepting those limits, the COSL decided to work around them, using careful planning, coordination and support to let a very large number of operations be done in a short time, especially where the need was most urgent.

1.7% of the population is blind because of cataract

Dr Ratnayake, now the immediate Past President, has explained why the effort matters. Cataract remains one of the leading causes of blindness worldwide, and Sri Lanka is no exception. National data suggest that around 1.7% of the population is blind because of cataract, and many more live with impairment that limits their ability to work, move freely and manage everyday tasks. The barriers to treatment are many: costs, doubts about whether the surgery is safe, social obstacles to travelling alone, chronic conditions such as diabetes and hypertension that need attention first, and, in rural areas, long distances and limited transport. The Gift of Vision was built to address these obstacles directly.

Its structure sets it apart. The programme is not run from a single central point. Regional eye surgeons plan and carry out surgical camps in their own areas, where they know the hospitals, the patients and the local constraints. Hospitals are chosen on the basis of need, and patients are identified, screened and prioritised beforehand so that urgent cases are seen first. The effort rests on a wide network of volunteers, including consultant eye surgeons, medical officers, nurses, optometrists and technical staff, many of whom travel long distances, often arranging their own transport and rearranging their personal lives. This collective generosity has allowed the initiative to run at a scale that would have been very hard to reach otherwise.

The first camp took place at the Teaching Hospital in Anuradhapura, where 316 surgeries were carried out. The programme then moved across the country, reaching Nuwara Eliya, Dikoya, Matara, Kahawatta, Polonnaruwa, Mahiyanganaya, Trincomalee, Badulla and Gampola. Each location brought its own difficulties, but the method stayed the same: identify the need, mobilise resources and deliver care within a defined time. Then came two days in March 2026 that the COSL describes as golden in its history. On 21 and 22 March, at the National Eye Hospital, surgical teams completed 1,129 cataract surgeries in just two days. The work continues in all parts of the country, and the total now stands at 6,500 cataract surgeries.

Cataract is the most visible of the College’s concerns, but not the only one. Its thinking follows the WHO’s: find problems early, because the conditions that cause the most irreversible damage often give the least warning. Glaucoma, the leading cause of irreversible blindness in the world, affects an estimated 80 million people, a number expected to reach 120 million by 2040. Known as the silent thief of sight, it is generally painless, and by the time a person notices that their side vision going, much of the damage is done. The Glaucoma Interest Group therefore runs screening camps in underserved areas, always in collaboration with the local eye surgeon so that patients receive continued follow-up. During the World Glaucoma Week, from 8 to 14 March 2026, it organised awareness programmes and free screening camps, aimed especially at people over 40, people with diabetes and those with a family history of glaucoma.

Awareness is part of the treatment, since many people believe that cataracts are unavoidable or do not know that glaucoma can harm the eyes without warning. The COSL plans to continue the Gift of Vision regularly across the country. The lessons are practical: anyone over 40 should have regular eye examinations, people with diabetes should have their eyes checked every year, and children who squint or struggle to read the board should have their sight tested. The WHO’s invitation this year is simple: check your vision, care for your eyes and encourage others to do the same. The lesson is the one that the world first heard in 2000: much of blindness can be prevented, and protecting sight is work that every one of us can help with.

The writer holds a Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Biotechnology degree from the Nilai University, Malaysia

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The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect those of this publication