Care for Vision: Retinal Health in Diabetes – Bengaluru Edition

Blue Circle Diabetes Foundation, India’s largest patient-led diabetes organisation and a registered non-profit in collaboration with Karnataka Institute of Endocrinology and Research (KIER), organised Care for Vision: Retinal Health in Diabetes, a multi-stakeholder workshop focused on raising awareness, encouraging early detection, and improving management of diabetic eye complications. The event brought together people with lived experience of diabetes, leading ophthalmologists, physicians, public health experts, and government representatives under one roof.

Key highlights from the event:

●      Unique, interactive multilingual workshop conducted in Kannada & English with a panel featuring ophthalmologists, vitroretinal specialists, endocrinologists & people living with diabetes.

●      Early detection & management: Speakers discussed how high glucose increases risk for retinopathy and highlighted the need for regular eye screening and glycemic control. Shakeer, a patient advocate, shared his lived experience of retinopathy.

●      Advances & access: The panel also explored diagnostics like OCT, intravitreal injections, green laser treatment, and therapies that can stabilise or reverse damage when combined with timely care and affordability as highlighted by Dr Dinesh (Associate Prof, Dept of Vitro Retina, KIER), Dr Thirumalesh (Senior Consultant, Narayana Nethralaya) & others.

●      Call for advocacy: All panelists agreed on the urgent need for greater awareness and stronger advocacy by patient organisations to complement medical efforts and ensure wider impact.

Although unable to attend in person, Dr. Chandrika, Deputy Director for Family Welfare, Department of Health, shared her support. She highlighted Karnataka’s initiatives such as the Gruha Aarogya door-to-door screening programme, universal screening after age 30 for eye, lipid, and lifestyle risks, strengthening government health facilities, and expanding access through vision centres and 90 established teleretinopathy facilities. She also stressed the importance of addressing complications like neovascularisation that can lead to vision loss.

This workshop also highlighted the urgent and often overlooked burden of retinal complications among people with diabetes in India. While treatment options are available, they remain out of reach for many due to high out-of-pocket costs. People with diabetes already face the significant daily burden of insulin and other essential medications & adding preventable vision loss further impacts quality of life and livelihood. There is a pressing need for financial support mechanisms and active involvement from government health programmes to ensure equitable access to preventive eye screening and care.

This was part of a national workshop series which began in Mumbai, followed by Hyderabad, Bengaluru & will also take place in Chennai & Delhi. The initiative aligns with the upcoming United Nations High-Level Meeting on NCDs (Non Communicable Diseases) in 2025, reinforcing the need for community-led, multisectoral efforts to protect vision and improve diabetes outcomes in India.