Narayana Nethralaya, Acer launch software for kids with visual loss

By NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: Narayana Nethralaya, in association with Acer India, on Wednesday launched ‘VisioNova’ a PC and Tablet-based software designed for children suffering from Cortical Visual Impairment (CVI).

CVI is a condition of bilateral visual loss caused due to injury of visual areas in the brain without significant eye or anterior visual pathway impairment.

Dr. Bhujang Shetty, Founder and Chairman, Narayana Nethralaya said that this collaboration is important for them to help integrate the CVI patients. “With the Buds to Blossoms initiative, we have treated over 9,000 children in the past few years. Hundreds of children have gone back to school after taking the treatment. Around 250 to 300 parents come here from across the country for the treatment on a monthly basis. If the children are denied the treatment at a young age it is very hard for them to lead a normal life later and going to school or college might be impossible,” he said.

Mr. Harish Kohli, President and Managing Director, Acer India, said when it comes to social responsibility the easiest thing that people look forward to is to pay some money and be done with it. “With limited hospitals treating CVI in India, this software makes it affordable for most people across the country. We must appreciate the team working behind it, be it Narayana Nethralaya or Acer. This innovation will serve a lot of purpose for the needy, who don’t have to come to Bengaluru every time for the treatment. Full marks for the team for coming up with an idea of this sort. We are elated to be associated with Narayana Nethralaya for such an initiative,” he said.

Answering the query, Dr. Anand Vinekar, Head Pediatric Retina said that the main reason for CVI is the low sugar level in the child during the early stages of development which affects the back portion of the brain which is responsible for vision. “CVI cannot in any case be a hereditary disease. And there is no other way of treatment apart from therapy,” he said.

Srinivas, a parent who benefitted from the CVI therapy said that initially they didn’t realise that their son was suffering from CVI. “We had admitted our son in a specially abled school, they suggested that we take our son to Narayana Nethralaya. After conducting the tests here it was clear that our son is suffering from CVI and the doctor suggested therapy. We started our therapy in April 2021 and now we could see a major change in our son. From this year onwards we are admitting our son in a normal CBSE school. Our son was having issues while writing, now he can write easily,” he said.