There are so many people in India that even patients with rare diseases can be found in sufficient numbers to conduct good scientific research

Michael Hauser,a Duke professor of medicine and ophthalmology, who collaborates with an eye institute in Hyderabad, India to study a childhood form of glaucoma, was quoted in a recent article published on the Duke website about how Global Research can harness Domestic benefits. To prove his point, it was also mentioned that Hauser?s team in Durham were able to identify 75 patients with primary congenital glaucoma ? a major form of childhood blindness that occurs rarely (with an approximate ratio of 1 in 10,000 infants); while his counterparts in Hyderabad, were able to identify more than 600 in the same period.

India,one of the world?s most populated nations at an estimated 1.21 billion people,faces numerous healthcare challenges, and it is understood from Prasanna Kumar Shirol, Founding member of the Organisation of Rare Diseases India (ORDI),that rare disease patients in India need most help in getting access to treatment options and information about the disease they are suffering