Right to Sight: Rajasthan becomes first state to adopt blindness control policy

The Department of Medical and Health, on the direction of Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, released the policy document for the prevention of blindness last week.

The policy has been introduced with the aim to bring light to the lives of more than three lakh people suffering from visual impairment in the state. The prevalence rate of blindness in the country was 1.1 percent in 2020 and work would be done to bring it down to 0.3 percent through the blindness control policy.

Under the policy, the Rajasthan government will mandatorily run Keratoplasty Centres and Eye Banks at all government medical colleges. Also, cornea collected by private organisations and NGOs getting financial help from the government will have to be provided to the government institutions on priority.

Efforts to eliminate visual impairment would be made in the districts in collaboration with voluntary organisations, trusts, hospitals and other charitable institutions working in this field.

In this regard, the state government will carry out a campaign for eye donation on an extensive level along with the private institutions. Special training will be imparted to eye experts, eye surgeons, post-graduate students, counsellors working for eye donation and eye assistants, etc.

Medical and Health Department Secretary Prithvi said that public awareness and various technical improvement activities related to curing blindness will be organised under this policy.

Medical Dialogues team had earlier reported that emphasising the need to implement the Rajasthan Government’s Chiranjeevi Health Insurance Scheme across India, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot had reiterated to the Central Government.