National Program for Control of Blindness and Visual Impairment

The National Program for Control of Blindness and Visual Impairment has been in operation since 1976 and the rate of blindness is to be reduced to 0.3 by 2020. In the year 2017, the name of the program has been changed and it has been changed tNational
Blindness Control Program& Visual Impairment. According to a quick survey conducted by the Central Government in the year 2015-19, the incidence of blindness has decreased from 1.1% (2006-2007) to 0.36%. Also, as mentioned in the national policy of the central government,
the aim is to reduce the rate of blindness to 0.25% by the year 2025. In addition to cataract surgery, the focus has also been on treating other eye diseases such as glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, vitreoretinal disease, and blindness in young children. 100 per cent subsidy was being given by the Central Government for the National Blindness Control Program. From the year 2015-16, 60 per cent central share and 40 percent state government share is given as grants.

Highlights of the event

1. To provide comprehensive universal eye services to achieve the goal of “Eye Health for All”.
2. To provide high-quality services to the people regarding eye diseases by strengthening the National Blindness Control Program.
3. To provide additional services to fill the backlog of cataract patients through diagnosis and treatment.
4. To provide services to the patients by appointing equipment and experts to the health institutions in all the districts of the state.
5. To provide services on eye diseases by including non-governmental organizations and private doctors in the program.
6. Raising awareness among the general public about other eye diseases (glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, vitreoretinal disease, blindness in children) and its treatment by providing health education and providing free services on other eye diseases.
7. Free eye examination of school children to diagnose and treat visual impairment.
8. To provide free spectacles to the needy and poor persons by conducting free eye examination of persons in the age group of 40+ years from the year 2014.

Program Functions –

State Health Society (NPCB&VI) has been set up at the state level and District Health Society (NPCB& VI) has been set up at district level in all the districts for successful implementation of programs in the state. As per the guidelines of the Central Government, instructions have been given to implement the program through the District Health Society (NPCB& VI) by giving authority at the district level.
Improving the program by providing training to experts and supplying materials. To solve eye diseases with the participation of NGOs and private doctors. To reduce the incidence of blindness to the maximum by organizing screening camps for all over 50 years and providing transport services. To provide free services for cataract surgery, glaucoma and other eye diseases through governmental and non-governmental organizations.
At present there are 69 eye banks, 46 eye collection centers and 201 eye transplant centers functioning in the state. There are also 93 government eye surgery centers and 110 NGO working in the state.

Financing for the following objectives to achieve the objectives of the scheme –

1. Under the scheme, 99% of cataract surgeries are done through SICS technique using IOL.
2. Other eye ailments have also been taken care of in children and elderly persons, and maximum emphasis will be given to prevent blindness. To achieve this goal, cataract surgery will be carried out, more people will be served, health services will be strengthened, and public participation, NGOs, and elected representatives will be involved.
3. Distribute free spectacles to students who have been diagnosed with visual impairment by conducting eye examinations of school children.
4. To distribute free spectacles to needy and poor persons by examining the eyes of persons in the age group of 40+ years.
5. Eye transplantation by collecting donated eyeballs after death.
6. To provide guidance and financial support from various levels for providing services at maximum capacity through public sector eye hospitals.
7. Construction of Ophthalmology Room and Ophthalmic Surgery at all District Hospitals in the State.
8. Provide updated technical education to ophthalmologists and ophthalmic officers.
9. Supply of updated equipment to District Hospitals, Sub-District Hospitals, Primary Health Centers, and Regional Institute of Ophthalmology, as well as maintenance and repair of equipment.

A special campaign “Netra Jyoti Abhiyan ” is being implemented by the Central Government since June, 2022. The campaign aims to completely fill the backlog of cataract surgeries that cause blindness and Severe Visual Impairment (SVI) in people aged 50 and above. In order to fill the backlog of cataract surgeries, the central government has given a target of 27 lakh cataract surgeries in the three years of 2022-23, 2023-24 and 2024-25.

1) Cataract Surgeries –

Year	Annual Target	Achiev	% Achiev	IOL Surgeries	% of IOL Surgeries
2019-20	455000	704813	154	703569	99
2020-21	339570	228991	67.44	226630	99
2021-22	373510	551034	147.33	549811	99
2022-23	776411	873513	112.51	872167	99
2023-24	931815	945733	101.50	944445	99.86
2024-25 (Dec 24)	1087000	751507	69.10	747532	99.47

2) Eye Ball Collection and Keratoplasty Surgeries

Year	Eye Balls Collected		No. of Keratoplasty Surgery
	Target	Achievement
2018-19	7000	7323	3813
2019-20	7500	6653	3059
2020-21	5850	1355	847
2021-22	6500	3172	1947
2022-23	5500	4456	2477
2023-24	6000	5087	2713
2024-25 (Dec 24)	6800	3794	2316

3) Eye Screening of School Children –

Year	Students Screened	Students with Refractive Errors	Free Spectacles Provided
2018-19	2359980	42549	31724
2019-20	3167593	43203	16614
2020-21	135722	7600	5480
2021-22	678446	15237	8633
2022-23	5915783	59586	19131
2023-24	4199029	33700	9694
2024-25 (Dec 24)	2819056	21830	3572

Presbyopia (40+) Eye Checkup and Spects distribution

Year	40+ Screened			Spect Distribution
	Male	Female	Total	Male	Female	Total
2018-19	64676	72786	137462	14279	14673	29260
2019-20	60085	71485	131570	10324	10237	20561
2020-21	20402	22534	42936	1219	1041	2260
2021-22	49163	55968	105131	10714	11512	22226
2022-23	99636	122750	219027	30316	33448	63764
2023-24	121683	138836	267927	81685	89188	170873
2024-25 (Dec 24)	252060	285843	537903	56900	47546	104446

Other Eye Diseases

		Year
		2019-20	2020-21	2021-22	2022-23	2023-24	2024-25 (Dec 24)
1	Diabetic Retinopathy with Laser Treatment	5153	855	2368	2875	1882	2444
		Medical t/t	11499	3119	5360	6054	6546	3692
2	Glaucoma	Surgical t/t	941	351	584
		Medical t/t	68	56
3	Cataract surgery	747	211	21250	7218	5100	8661
		Medical t/t
4	Glaucoma	Surgical t/t	79	40
		5	Squint surgery	772	142	394
6	Childhood Blindness	Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP) with Laser treatment	1167	485	1437
7	Retinoblastoma surgery	2	4	19
8	Congenital ptosis surgery	64	23	47
9	Intraocular Trauma in Children management	617	731	1024
10	Keratoplasty	3059	614	1669	2477	2713	2316
11	Low Vision Aids	816	96	321	4296	5124	5067
12	Other OPD	15530	4058	9300	418149	433894	309575
Total		44705	13986	48731	441069	455259	332612

National Programme for control of Blindness – Budget & Expenditure (Rs. In Lakh)

Years	Approved Budget	Expenditure	% against Available Grant
2018-19	2082.30	881.51	42.33%
2019-20	2375.40	721.64	30.42%
2020-21	1802.15	460.329	25.54%
2021-22	2449.51	949.11	38%
2022-23	4062.19	968.46	23.25%
2023-24	8084.18	2889.59	35.74%
2024-25 (Dec 2024)	2059.05	641.18	31.17%

Beneficiary:

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Benefits:

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