Towards a ‘blindness-free’ Telangana

To work towards an ‘Avoidable Blindness-Free Telangana’, the State government took up a universal eye screening programme called Kanti Velugu.

‘Avoidable blindness’ is preventable if basic access to eye care is provided like spectacles or eye drops at the correct time. The major similarity between Phase-1 and Phase-2 of the programme is that 60% of the beneficiaries were women and the elderly.

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Phase-2 was kick-started on January 18, 2023, with a budget of ₹200 crore, to screen 1.5 crore people within 100 days and distribute 55 lakh spectacles, out of which 30 lakh will be reading glasses and the remaining prescription glasses.

While reading glasses are distributed on the spot, prescription glasses are delivered by ANMs within 30 days of check-up. The government has deployed 1,500 teams consisting of a doctor, an ophthalmic assistant and a staff nurse, across all the districts to achieve the target. Further, quality control teams have been deployed in each district to ensure proper screening.

As of May 26, 2023, a total of 1,54,58,982 people were screened under the programme that included 72,64,738 men, 81,74,580 women and 10,098 transgenders. A total of 21,85,945 reading glasses were handed over to people, and 17,58,424 people have been identified for prescription glasses.

About 1,15,13,797 people were found with no eye related issues. The programme has been completed in 11,862 gram panchayats and 3,495 wards, and is in progress in 506 gram panchayats and 258 wards.

Surgeries are being done in routine hospital conditions and mainstreaming with the help of National Blindness Control Programme (NBCP). Chief Secretary Santhi Kumari, speaking about taking the programme to children, said that it is a more elaborate process as without dilation, visual defects in children cannot be assessed.

Phase-1 of the programme was launched in August 2018 and lasted for eight months, where more than one crore people were screened. About 40% of screened patients were found with eye-related problems. More than 18 lakh reading glasses were distributed and over 13 lakh people were identified for prescription glasses. About six lakh people were referred to secondary and tertiary centres for cataract and other surgeries.