[Eye diseases and ophthalmological care in a developing country (author's transl)].

Five million blind people in India suffer from cataract, which is a curable condition. Untreated cataract accounts for more than half of the cases of blindness in that country. Twenty percent of all cases of blindness are caused by infections, while malnutrition accounts for 27% in children. In India, ophthalmological care has been provided for many years now in eye-camps. In cataract surgery, the expression method is customary. Trachomas at all stages, infectious eye diseases, traumatic lesions, vitamin A deficiency and leprosy are also diagnosed and treated in large numbers of cases. By way of an example the authors, assistants at the First Eye Clinic of Vienna University, describe an eye-camp in Andhra Pradesh where they worked. Work of this kind can be recommended to others.