E-Paper
Maharashtra health dept to start cataract campaign from Feb 19
The health department has appealed to the citizens to contact the toll-free number 104 for advice and information about the campaign
The state health department will start the ‘Rashtriya Netra Jyoti Abhiyan’ cataract-blindness-free Maharashtra campaign under the National Programme for Control of Blindness & Visual Impairment (NPCBVI) from Monday.
Under the campaign over 1 lakh cataract surgeries will be performed in Maharashtra, said officials.
The special cataract surgery campaign will be conducted between February 19 to March 4.
Health Minister Tanaji Sawant has urged citizens to take advantage of the campaign and all cataract surgeries will be conducted free of cost.
The health department has appealed to the citizens to contact the toll-free number 104 for advice and information about the campaign.
Under the campaign Maharashtra has set a target to perform 27 lakh cataract surgeries in three years from 2022 to 2025, said, Dr Kailas Baviskar, deputy director of health services.
Dr Baviskar said, “The health department has provided infrastructure and state-of-the-art equipment for cataract surgery in all district-level as well as taluka-level hospitals. Under this campaign, the health department has made district-wise plans to perform 1 lakh surgeries. The responsibility has been decentralized to health officers and doctors at the district level.”
In the year 2022-23, 112.51 per cent of the target of cataract surgery has been achieved in the state.
In 2023-24, 67.30 per cent of the total target cataract surgery has been achieved till December 2023.
