BHUBANESWAR: In a bid to curb the prevalence of blindness and other visual impairment, the State Government is all set to intensify screening of patients and ensure access to treatment at the grassroots.The Health Department has set a target of screening over 4.50 lakh schoolgoers in the current year. The children would be examined for possible visual impairments. The objective of the program is to identify the prospective victims early and put them under effective treatment.Despite the implementation of the National Programme for Control of Blindness in the State since 1976, incidence of eye problems continues to be high. More than one per cent of the population in the State suffers from visual impairment of any degree. The goal is to bring down the prevalence of blindness to 0.3 per cent. The Government will spend Rs 8.40 crore on blindness control and prevention initiatives this year, Health Minister Prasanna Acharya said on the occasion of World Sight Day here on Friday.The Department has also aimed at conducting cataract surgeries on more than 2 lakh people this year while eye glasses will be distributed to 10,000 more. In addition, school teachers would be trained in detecting visual problems among the students.This apart, campaigns to encourage eye donation would be intensified, with the target for this year set at 1,000 donations. There are seven eye donation centres and six eye banks in the State. Last year, about 437 eyes were donated while corneal transplant was conducted on 257 people, Health Secretary Anu Garg said.To ensure easy availability of treatment for the visual impaired, speciality ophthalmology departments have been opened at all district headquarter hospitals. More than 1.20 lakh cataract surgeries were conducted last year with a success rate of around 81 per cent. As many as 5.62 school students have undergone screening with 22,000 found to be suffering from varied degrees of visual impairment.
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