Evaluation of the Utilisation of Cataract Surgery Services in South Article

Evaluation of the Utilisation of Cataract Surgery Services in South India - Article Example Blindness is a major health problem in India. It has been estimated that about 12 million people are suffering from blindness in India, the dominant cause of which is cataract. Cataract accounts for nearly two-third of blind population in India. The Government of India launched National Programme for Control of Blindness in 1976 and the World Bank Assisted Cataract Blindness Control Project in 1994, with the aim to bring down the incidence of blindness from 1.4% to 0.3%. To achieve this, eye care infrastructure and human resources were developed, accessibility to eye care services were increased and quality of eye care services was improved. As a result, many cataract surgeries were performed and are being performed at various visual camps to restore vision of the affected persons. Cataract is easily treatable by surgery. Though extracapsular cataract extraction (ECCE) is much better than intracapsular cataract extraction (ICCE) in terms of outcome and patient satisfaction, not many surgeons are trained in ECCE. Also, it is much costlier and takes longer time. Consequently, a substantial part of cataract extractions are still performed as ICCEs. In a study by Nirmalan et al (2004), it has been reported that a large proportion of people who required eye care did not utilize eye care services at the time. In our study, we would like to evaluate the utilization of cataract surgery services mainly in South India and find out reasons for not utilization so that policies can be recommended to improve these health services.