Chandigarh, February 16
For long, diabetic patients have lived under the fear of going blind due to diabetic retinopathy and in fact, it is a major cause of blindness worldwide. But timely laser treatment can prevent blindness in these patients.

This was stated by Dr C. Abrahim from Shankar Netralaya, Chennai, while speaking about various developments in the field of lasers here today. He said, “One of the major reasons of diabetic people losing their vision is that they do not receive proper treatment at the right time”. He was speaking on the concluding day of the 11th annual conference of the Vitreo Retinal Society of India (VRSI) organised by the Government Medical College and Hospital, Sector 32.

Judicious use of laser has changed the prognosis of diabetic retinopathy. Surgery is required in few patients and results in this group have also been improving over the past few years. The key to proper management of diabetic retinopathy includes controlling blood sugar and timely screening of retina and prompt referral for early detection and prevention of progression by proper use of laser.

A coordinated approach between various fields of medicine, coupled with patients family history, can help bring down the number of patients who loose their vision due to diabetes.

Earlier, Prof Suresh Chandra from the USA was awarded the S. Nataraja Pillai Oration award by Prof Amod Gupta, president of the VRSI.

In the last session of the day, Dr Atul Kumar from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) spoke on ‘Surgical treatment in patients when blockade of the vessels occurs. This was seen in patients with hypertension, diabetes and those with increased blood cholesterol levels. This could be prevented by control of hypertension and blood sugar, he said.

Chandigarh, February 16
It was a dream come true for the home team, Regional Sports Board (RSB), Chandigarh, which capitalised on it being local, to finally bag the women team championship title in the final of the All-India Civil Services Table Tennis Tournament played here today at Sector 23 TT hall. The RSB, Chandigarh, men too played well and came runners-up while RSB, Kolkata men won the championship.

Earlier in the semi-finals of the men team championship, RSB, Chandigarh, had defeated RSB, Bhuvaneshwar 3-2 while RSB, Kolkata, beat RSB, Patna 3-0.

The final placings were: men; RSB, Kolkata 1, RSB, Chandigarh 2, RSB Patna 3.

Women: RSB, Chandigarh 1, RSB Kanpur 2, CCSCSB, Delhi 3.

Men: final-RSB, Kolkata b RSB, Chandigarh 3-0 (Indeebar Chatterjee b Aikesh Saini 11-5, 11-6, 11-4; Sourav b Harish Kumar 11-7, 11-9, 8-11, 11-6; Dipankar Adhikari b Vikash Sharma 11-4, 11-5, 11-5.