Radhatri Nethralaya organised its annual Project RADAR (Radhatri Nethralaya Diabetic Retinopathy Project in Association with Rotary) walkathon recently at Besant Nagar beach, with above 400 participants comprising of school and college students, female auto drivers, doctors, rotarians, lions club members, optometrists, retired army personnel and professionals to promote awareness about Diabetic Retinopathy, the blinding disease affecting diabetics. The walkathon was powered by Rotary club of Chennai Towers and Federal Bank and was under the aegis of Gurupriya Vision Research Foundation, the public charitable trust of Radhatri Nethralaya. The participants were from B.S Mootha school, AMJ college, Female Auto drivers Association, Retired armed forces Association, ANM Jain college, Lions club of Avadi, Vasan Institute of Optometry, PSG Medical college and SRM medical college and the public.
The chief guest Ponniyin Selvan fame actor Ashwin Kakumanu and guest of honour G. Venket Ram flagged off the walkathon. They spoke about the need for such awareness programs and urged diabetics to get their eyes regularly examined and appreciated Radhatri Nethralaya’s efforts in the field of prevention of blindness due to Diabetic Retinopathy. Dr. Praveen Krishna, Medical director Radhatri Nethralaya said, that Diabetes and Diabetic Retinopathy were on the rise and awareness should be improved in the public about the need to get their eyes examined to rule out blinding conditions such as Diabetic Retinopathy. Dr. Vasumathy Vedantham, Medical Director Radhatri Nethralaya said that certificates were distributed to the participating students certifying them to be Yuva Nethra Jyotis or Youth Vision Ambassadors and pamphlets promoting awareness on Diabetic Retinopathy were distributed in the event.