In Photos: Fighting Corneal Blindness in Kolkata, One Weekly Clinic At A Time

Corneal blindness is a group of eye illnesses that produce corneal scarring and blindness.

In India, an estimated 1.3 million people suffer from corneal blindness, the National Programme for Control of Blindness had stated in 2022.

Even as the burden of the disease is increasing, awareness about it hasn't kept up. Corneal blindness is more common than we'd like to think.

At Kolkata's Regional Institute of Ophthalmology's weekly cornea clinic, 150–180 patients line up to get examined each week. FIT visited the clinic last week.

(Ritayan Mukherjee is an independent photographer from Kolkata. He is working on a long-term project that documents the lives of pastoral and nomadic communities in India. Ritayan has several publications and Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Awards (RNG Awards) in his portfolio.)