Ministry of Health and Family Welfare

Cataract Patients

Posted On: 07 APR 2017 1:17PM by PIB Delhi

As per the National Survey 2006-07 conducted under the National Programme for Control of Blindness (NPCB) by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, there were around 12 million blind persons (Visual Acuity<6/60) including blindness due to Cataract in the Country.    A statement showing estimated number of blind persons in the country, State/UT-wise, due to various eye diseases including Cataract is given below:

 

Estimated Blind Persons in India-2006-07

 
 

S.No.

State/UTs

Prevalence of Blindness (Survey 2001-02)

Estimated Blind Persons (Visual Acuity <6/60)

Estimated blind persons due to cataract (62.6% of total blindness)

 

1

ANDAMAN & NICOBAR

1.10

3919

2453

 

2

ANDHRA PRADESH

1.42

1075331

673157

 

3

ARUNACHAL PRADESH

2.28

24877

15573

 

4

ASSAM

3.05

812471

508607

 

5

BIHAR

0.78

646455

404681

 

6

CHANDIGARH

1.01

9099

5696

 

7

CHHATISGARH

1.61

334815

209594

 

8

DADRA & NAGAR HAVELI

1.07

2359

1477

 

9

DAMAN & DIU

1.07

1691

1059

 

10

DELHI

1.13

155748

97498

 

11

GOA

1.52

20429

12788

 

12

GUJARAT

1.07

541388

338909

 

13

HARYANA

1.89

398468

249441

 

14

HIMACHAL PRADESH

0.70

42541

26631

 

15

JAMMU & KASHMIR

1.61

162126

101491

 

16

JHARKHAND

1.41

379423

237519

 

17

KARNATAKA

1.78

938664

587604

 

18

KERALA

0.56

178296

111613

 

19

LAKSHADWEEP

1.10

667

417

 

20

MADHYA PRADESH

1.16

700467

438493

 

21

MAHARASHTRA

0.95

919146

575386

 

22

MANIPUR

1.38

32963

20635

 

23

MEGHALAYA

0.74

17065

10683

 

24

MIZORAM

0.78

6950

4351

 

25

NAGALAND

1.05

20881

13071

 

26

ODISHA

1.40

513897

321699

 

27

PONDICHERRY

0.78

7596

4755

 

28

PUNJAB

1.01

245322

153572

 

29

RAJASTHAN

1.55

875333

547959

 

30

SIKKIM

0.65

3513

2199

 

31

TAMIL NADU

0.78

484465

303275

 

32

TRIPURA

0.77

24572

   

33

UTTAR PRADESH

0.94

1560897

977121

 

34

UTTARAKHAND

0.56

47486

29726

 

35

WEST BENGAL

1.19

954632

597600

 

 

TOTAL

1.10

12143952

7586732

 

The number of cataract cases would be many times higher as this is the estimate of cataract cases in blind persons.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the pattern of assistance approved by the Empowered Programme Committee (EPC) in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, a target of 330 lakh cataract surgeries with an annual target 66 lakh cataract surgeries was fixed under NPCB during the 12th Five Year Plan (2012-2017).  A statement showing annual targets for cataract surgeries, State/UT-wise, in the year 2016-17 is given below:

 

Target for Cataract surgery-2016-17

States/UTs

Cataract Operations

Major States

Target

Andhra Pradesh

327688

Bihar

421309

Chattisgarh

168565

Goa

9621

Gujarat

399632

Haryana

167330

Himachal Pradesh

27769

Jammu & Kashmir

82331

Jharkhand

217577

Karnataka

404563

Kerala

136120

Madhya Pradesh

480244

Maharashtra

456011

Orissa

276853

Punjab

183948

Rajasthan

453999

Tamil Nadu

293063

Telangana

231105

Uttar Pradesh

808305

Uttarakhand

40973

West Bengal

603995

North Eastern States

 

Arunachal Pradesh

9125

Assam

205717

Manipur

17964

Meghalaya

12004

Mizoram

4419

Nagaland

13072

Sikkim

2461

Tripura

14868

UTs

 

A &N Nicobar Islands

2508

Chandigarh

6961

D&N Haveli

2263

Daman & Diu

1603

Delhi

110571

Lakshdweep

425

Puducherry

5040

Grand Total

6600000

 

 

Cataract is mainly an age related diseases, which can be controlled by adopting appropriate measures and surgical procedures. Due to increase in population and life expectancy, the number of new cases of Cataract is likely to increase.  

 

However,  NPCB in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare is committed to reduce the burden of avoidable blindness in the country including blindness due to cataract to 0.3% by the year 2020 by adopting the following strategies:. 

·         Decentralized implementation of NPCB through State/District Health Societies for close monitoring and supervision;

·         Reduction in the backlog of blind persons by active screening of population above 50 years, organizing eye screening  camps and transporting operable cases to fixed eye-care facilities for operation/treatment;

·         Involvement of private practitioners in eye care services;

·         In-service training to eye surgeons in various fields of ophthalmology to refresh and  develop clinical and surgical skills including Cataract;

·         Strengthening/developing of eye-care infrastructure at various levels to improve quantity and quality of eye-care services;

·         Provision for setting up Multipurpose District Mobile ophthalmic Units in District Hospitals to improve coverage area.

 

The Minister of State (Health and Family Welfare), SmtAnupriya Patel stated this in a written reply in the LokSabha here today.

 

*****

 

 

MV/LK

 


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