Beginning the Independence Day, about 3.7 crore people in Telangana will be screened for ocular problems in the next few days. About 825 teams will conduct eye camps across the State, covering Refraction Errors, Cataract, Vitamin A deficiency, eye infections, glaucoma, corneal disorders and diabetic retinopathy.

Free glasses

An estimated 41 lakh will get free glasses under the Telangana Kanti Velugu programme. As many as four lakh people may require surgeries to correct different ocular problems.

Chief Minister K Chandrasekhara Rao formally launched the programme at Malkapur in Medak district.

Each team would comprise a doctor, optometrist, pharmacist, 2-3 health workers and a data entry operator.

“About 77,000 people will require primary care, 3.3 lakh people would need secondary care and 14,000 may require tertiary care,” an official of the Health Department has said.

“We will conduct surgeries to correct cataract, glaucoma, retinopathy and corneal disorders. All services will be provided free of cost,” he said.

“We will conduct camps in all gram panchayats and wards in urban areas. Ocular data of all the people will be captured electronically through a special software. This information will help in following up the cases after interventions,” he said.

Life insurance for farmers

The government has released about ₹150 crore for the implementation of the programme.

This includes ₹23 crore released from the National Health Mission. The Chief Minister also announced the launch of the Rythu Bima, a life insurance scheme for farmers. Being implemented by the LIC, the scheme offers a life cover of ₹5 lakh each. Though formally launched on Wednesday, Ministers have been distributing the policy bonds to all the eligible farmers in different districts in the last one week.

comment COMMENT NOW