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Indian program will focus on childhood blindness prevention

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NEW DEHLI, India — A blindness control program in India will shift its focus from cataract to pediatric blindness prevention for the next five years, according to an Indian news source.

The National Programme for the Control of Blindness will begin focusing on childhood blindness, glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy, and on strengthening India’s eye banks, after successfully reducing the incidence of cataract, according to a report in Express Healthcare Management.

Rachel Jose, MD, deputy director general of ophthalmology for the Indian ministry of health, said that the prevalence of cataract in India has decreased after 2 decades of government attention, the news item stated.

Of the 45 million blind people in the world, the World Health Organization estimates, 7 million are in India, and 270,000 of those are children.

The government will undertake advocacy programs and screening programs in rural areas and has targeted 11 regional ophthalmology institutions for specialized pediatric units. The government will allot more than $65,000 (3 million rupees) per institution, the news report said.

The government will work with Orbis International to conduct training programs, fellowships and hospital-based programs, with training to be conducted in Calcutta, Patna, Allahabad, Ahmedabad and Bhopal, the article said. These programs should be initiated by October. The government will also provide free training for physicians in pediatric ophthalmology in “centers of excellence” around the country including the L.V. Prasad Institute and the Aravind Eye Hospital. Currently, India has fewer than a dozen centers for pediatric ophthalmology and “about 25 pediatric ophthalmologists in the country,” said G.N. Rao, MD, of the L.V. Prasad Eye Institute. WHO guidelines suggest one pediatric center for every 20 million inhabitants, meaning that India needs about 50 centers. With the recently announced government initiative, there should be about 25 centers by the end of this 5-year effort, the article said.