Kanti Velugu programme proves a success

​Hyderabad: Eye screenings in various districts under Kanti Velugu, the flagship scheme of Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, is likely to be completed between January and February. While in some areas the coverage has been more than 85 per cent of the population, in some places around half of the local population got their eyes examined and took treatment. The scheme was intended to cover 3.5 crore population of Telangana from August 15, 2018, onwards.

According to the latest figures, screenings were completed for 1.3 crore, which meant roughly one-third of the population was covered. Health authorities stated that their target coverage was around one-fifth of the total population (roughly 70 lakh) as not everyone would be having eye-related issues. However, the response from the public was beyond our expectations what with screenings crossing 1.3 crore overall in the entire State. Officials are hopeful of crossing the halfway mark (1.8 crore population) in the next three to four weeks.

" There are two ways to look at the situation. Some locals might have been preoccupied and could not find time to visit camps and hence it is not reflected in the total coverage in that area. Also, the uncovered population in an area mostly consists of youngsters who might not be having any problems and understandably they did not feel that they needed to get their eyes checked. However, KV camps will continue for the next three to six weeks and it would provide an opportunity to such sections to avail the facility free of cost," an official said.

In all 827 teams were constituted by the department comprising doctor, optometrist, nurses and ANMs, Asha workers and supervisors to move around different areas in 31 districts to do eye screenings. The government hired over 1,000 optometrists who assisted doctors in conducting preliminary eye check-up using Snellen eye chart. People having common refractive errors were given reading glasses on the spot. For those detected with eyesight problems, objective and subjective refraction tests were done to prescribe medicines and pointed spectacles.

Patients having severe problems like Glaucoma or Pterygium were referred to tertiary hospitals like Sarojini Devi and LV Prasad. However, cataract surgeries have been put on hold for the last four months due to botched up procedures at a private hospital in Warangal. Although it was stated that health officials would revisit 113 private hospitals that were given go-ahead for Cataract operations initially the exercise was not taken up due to assembly elections. District Medical and Health Officer said that the officials had prepared a list of people, who underwent initial screenings and later recommended for cataract surgeries.