Gujarat tops in Cataract Operations under ‘Rashtriya Netra Jyoti Abhiyan’

Gandhinagar: Gujarat has secured the top spot nationally, surpassing its cataract surgery target with 6,36,428 surgeries performed in 2022-23, marking a 504% achievement over the intended target of 1,26,300. Additionally, Gujarat has emerged as the frontrunner with 10,000 cataract surgeries per 10 lakh population.

In 2023-24, Gujarat set a target of 1,51,700 cataract surgeries. Within 8 months, the state has already surpassed 81% of this goal, performing an impressive 1,23,975 surgeries.

The Government of India initiated the ‘Rashtriya Netra Jyoti Abhiyan’ in 2022 under the National Blindness and Visual Impairment Control Program. With a 3-year objective, the campaign aims to reduce the prevalence of blindness to 0.25% by May 2025.

In line with the Central Government’s initiative, free cataract surgeries are provided to individuals aged 50 and above who are either blind or visually impaired due to cataracts.

Achievement under the campaign ‘Cataract-Blindness Free Gujarat’

When Prime Minister Shri Narendrabhai Modi initiated the ‘Rashtriya Netra Jyoti Abhiyan’ in 2022, Chief Minister Shri Bhupendra Patel also launched the ‘Cataract-Blindness Free Gujarat’ campaign in the same year with the objective of making Gujarat at the forefront of realizing this vision of Cataract-Blindness Free India.

This state-level campaign by the Gujarat Government is especially useful for citizens of the state who are over 50 years old and have lost their eyesight due to cataracts or are on the verge of losing their vision.

The Health Department of the Gujarat Government has also launched a dedicated website – cataractblindfree.gujarat.gov.in – for this campaign. This website, operated by healthcare workers in government hospitals, provides complete information about patients’ primary registration, referral services, operation services, and follow-up services.

All 33 districts and 8 municipal corporation areas of the state have been covered under this campaign and the campaign is being conducted as per the action plan. It is noteworthy that under this campaign, more than 8 lakh successful operations have been done in the state so far.

‘Cataract-Blindness Free Gujarat’ campaign in four phases

The State Health Department achieved this important campaign in Gujarat in four major phases. The first phase is a vision survey of people above 30 years of age; the second phase is the registration of visually impaired patients; the third phase is the operation of patients; and the fourth phase is follow-up action.

In Gujarat, vision tests for people above 30 years of age are done through an ‘E-card’ with the help of field staff. About 50 thousand female ASHA workers in the state have also been trained for this purpose.

Hydrophobic intraocular lens is also given free of cost after the operation

Hydrophobic lenses are also provided free of cost to all patients requiring cataract surgery. These lenses are considered the best option for cataracts as it helps in reducing the risk of postoperative complications like posterior capsule opacification.

DeshGujarat