Kathmandu: With the current spell of dry season, the number of patients visiting Nepal Eye Hospital with eye infections has risen.

Dr Sabina Shrestha, paediatric ophthalmologist at NEH, said the main reason for the increasing number of cases of eye infection was the rise in air pollution and dust during the dry season. She said the number of patients with eye infections was recorded more in the summer season compared to the winter. She added that allergic conjunctivitis and vernal conjunctivitis were the two major eye ailments seen among people during the present season. “Though there was an outbreak of conjunctivitis in 2004 across the country, the present situation is not that bad,” Shrestha said. She added that some severe cases of conjunctivitis due to lack of adequate supply of medicine were recorded this year.

She urged the public to wash their eyes twice a day with clean water and to wear sunglasses to prevent dust particles from entering their eyes and to protect them from direct sunlight. She also advised patients to consult doctors before rushing to drug stores. Meanwhile, Dr Aditya Prasad Rijal, director of NEH, said they were fully prepared to fight any kind of outbreak of eye ailments. He said on an average 450 patients visit the hospital in the summer and 300 in the winter. He said a schoolchildren were most vulnerable to such infections.