Kabirdham is the 1st district in the country to get Cataract Blindness Backlog Free status

• 08 May 2023

Why in News?

On 6 May 2023, Chhattisgarh Health Services Director Bhim Singh reviewed the National Blindness and Short Vision Control Program with senior departmental officers. During this, he informed that seven districts have achieved Cataract Blindness Backlog Free Status under National Netra Jyoti Abhiyan in the state, in which Kabirdham is the first district in the country to achieve this status.

Key Points

• Along with Kabirdham, Raipur, Balodabazar-Bhatapara, Raigarh, Dhamtari, Rajnandgaon and Balod have also achieved this status.
• It may be noted that a target has been set to make Chhattisgarh a corneal opacity-free state by the year 2025.
• In the meeting, Director Bhim Singh praised the state nodal officers including nodal officers of all the districts for successful service delivery and 100 percent achievement in the field of eye services in the state by encouraging them to do more operations in the current financial year 2023-24.
• Health department officials informed in the meeting that a total of 1 lakh 35 thousand 113 cataract operations have been performed in the state in the last financial year. This number is the highest among the cataract operations performed in the state in a year.
• The actual target of cataract operation was kept at 1 lakh 7 thousand 800 by the Government of India and 1 lakh 25 thousand at the state level. Along with this, 32 thousand 603 operations for other eye diseases have also been done.
• Raipur district stood first, Surajpur second and Balodabazar-Bhatapara third in maximum cataract operations relative to the expected target. In the meeting, these three districts were honoured by giving symbols.
• In the meeting, the district hospitals which performed the maximum number of cataract operations in government hospitals (District Hospital/Civil Hospital/CHC) in relation to the expected target were also honoured with the symbol. In this, Dhamtari district stood first, Raigad second and Balodabazar-Bhatapara third.
• Dr. Sarita Nirmal of Jagdalpur District Hospital, who has done the maximum number of eye operations in the state, Dr. Meena Patel of Raigad District Hospital, who stood second and Dr. J.S. Khalsa of Dhamtari District Hospital, who stood third, was also honoured in the meeting.
• Dr. Rajesh Suryavanshi, District Hospital Dhamtari, surgeons who perform a large number of eye operations, Dr. R.S. Sengar, Chief Medical & Health Officer Korea, Dr. Teras Kanwar, District Hospital Surajpur, Dr. R. Meshram, District Hospital Raigarh, Dr. R.K. Awasthi, Civil Surgeon cum Hospital Superintendent Balodabazar-Bhatapara, Dr. Prabha Sonwani, Sims Medical College Bilaspur and Dr. Tarun Kanwar, District Hospital Bijapur were honoured by presenting mementoes.
• So far, 244 eye donations have been received in the state against the target of 400 eye donations. There are 6 eye banks and 4 corneal transplant centres registered in the state, which have been allotted to the districts.
• Transplantation of the corneas obtained after testing the patients identified by the concerned centre as suitable is being done. Under the 'Corneal Blindness Free State Scheme', there is a target to make the state Corneal blindness free by the year 2025.
• Chhattisgarh is the first state where government hospitals have made additional arrangements for the transportation of patients suffering from eye diseases from home to hospital and from hospital to home.