Kumar Bahukhandi
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In Short
*Health department is working on a large scale to prevent blindness
*More than 1.80 lakh successful cataract operations completed in the last one and a half years
*Awareness is increasing regarding eye donation, 351 eye donations completed in one and a half years
Raipur: Under the leadership of Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai and guidance of Health Minister Shyam Bihari Jaiswal, the Health and Family Welfare Department of Chhattisgarh is working on a large scale to prevent blindness.
One of the main causes of blindness is cataract, which is generally an age-related eye disease. It is considered normal after a certain age, but vision can be regained by operating it. For its treatment, quality free eye operation facility is available in a total of 43 health institutions including 25 district hospitals and 10 medical colleges of the state, where eye operations are being performed regularly by ophthalmologists.
As many as 1,45,580 cataract operations have been successfully performed in the state from April 2024 to March 2025 and 27,245 cataract operations from April 2025 to June 2025.
The ambitious “Rashtriya Netra Jyoti Yojana” (National Eyesight Campaign ) of the Government of India is being operated in the state, under which all the districts are to be provided “Cataract Blindness Backlog Free Status” (CBBFS). Under this campaign , patients blind due to cataract in both eyes are identified and freed from blindness by operation on priority basis.
So far, claims have been sent to the Government of India for declaring 11 districts of the state – Kabirdham, Raipur, Dhamtari, Balodabazar, Balod, Durg, Rajnandgaon, Khairagarh, Raigarh, Korba and Bastar – blindness free. At the same time, verification of claims of Kanker and Bemetara districts is in progress, after which the proposal will be sent to the Government of India.
The department is also alert for the identification and treatment of “Glaucoma”, another major cause of blindness. This is a complex eye disease, about which the patient is not aware in the initial stage and by the time it is known, the vision has already deteriorated.
The vision lost due to this cannot be brought back. Its identification is possible only through regular eye tests. Therefore, it is advisable to get an eye test done every 6 months after the age of 40 years. The facility for its examination is available in all the development block centers of the state.
“Corneal Blindness Free State Scheme” is also being run for the prevention of corneal blindness. Under this, corneal blind patients have been identified in all the districts, verified by eye transplant centers and registered in the eye banks.
As soon as eye donation is received, they are transplanted on priority basis. Eye donation is being encouraged through public awareness, as a result of which 263 eye donations have been completed from April 2024 to March 2025 and 88 eye donations have been completed from April 2025 to June 2025.
Facility for treatment of other common eye diseases is available free of cost in all the health centers of the state. Special clinics are organised on scheduled days in all the district hospitals, under which other eye diseases including glaucoma, retina, diabetic retinopathy, pediatric ophthalmology are treated. More than 81,000 such patients have been treated from April 2024 to March 2025 and more than 25,000 patients have been treated from April 2025 to June 2025.
The people of the state are continuously benefiting from quality eye health services, regular screening camps, testing with modern equipment and immediate surgery. The Health Department, Chhattisgarh is fully committed to providing better, effective and accessible eye care services to the people of the state.
