Report by Kishor Kumar Dash & Deba Prasad Dash; Bhubneswar: AIMED to restore their lost vision and hope for the poor cataract patients, the Malkangiri district administration has undertaken a massive free cataract screening & surgery, said to be one of the most cost effective all health interventions under the initiative of the District Collector K.Susarshan Chakravarthy on regular basis in the District Headquarters Hospital every month.
Said to be first of its kind in the state and a new innovative idea of Chakravarthy,the young IAS Officer , the Doctors and paramedical staff, mostly the ANMs who attends the old age pension distribution on 15th of every month go for the screening of the cataract patients among the poor old age pensioners all across the district.Once, the patients suffering from cataract are identified, their details are prepared and necessary arrangements are made to refer them to the District Headquarters Hospital (DHH) on a particular day.
The two eye specialists at the DHH go for final screening of the cataract patients referred by the doctors before going for surgery. The others those who are found suffering from eye ailments other than cataract are given free treatment, medicines and glasses, the DHH sources here said. All patients after surgery are housed in DHH and transported back to their villages free of cost on a regular basis once they are discharged, it added.
A total of 224 identified poor senior citizens have undergone cataract surgery since February this year. While 257 senior citizens were screened in February 2017 ,129 of them who were affected with cataract were operated. Similarly, 95 poor people were undergone surgery against the screening of 179 senior citizens in Martch, 2017. All cases receive state-of-the-art surgical expertise and undergo an Intra Ocular Lens implantation, a DHH statement claimed here.
Contacted District Collector K.Sudarshan Chakravarthy said such a most cost effective life changing eye care to the poor senior citizens is being provided free of cost. The initiative has been undertaken by the administration in a mission mode to cure blindness among the poor, he added.
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