In a first, Rajasthan implements 'Right to Sight'; policy to bring down prevalence rate of blindness

Jaipur: Under its campaign of Nirogi Rajasthan, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has implemented the policy for Blindness Control with the objective of 'Right to Sight'. With this, Rajasthan has become the first state to have such a policy.

Policy document for prevention of blindness released

The medical and health department on the directions of the Chief Minister released the policy document for the prevention of blindness on Friday. 

The secretary of medical and health department Dr Prithvi said, "This policy has been brought with an aim to bring light in the lives of more than 3 lakh people suffering from visual impairment in the State."

The prevalence rate of blindness in the country was 1.1% in 2020 and the initiatives under the  Blindness Control Policy will help to bring it down to 0.3 percent.

State govt to run Keratoplasty Centre and Eye Bank in all medical colleges

Under the policy for Blindness Control, the state government will mandatorily run Keratoplasty Centre and Eye Bank in all the government medical colleges. The government funded private organizations and NGOs that are collecting cornea will have to provide the collected cornea to the government institutions on priority.

State govt to run campaign for eye donation

Efforts to eliminate visual impairment would be made in the districts in collaboration with voluntary organizations, trusts, hospitals and other charitable institutions working in this field. In this regard, the State Government will carry out a campaign for eye donation on an extensive level along with the private institutions. Special training will be imparted to eye experts, eye surgeons, post graduate students, counselors working for eye donation and eye assistants etc.

Dr Prithvi said that public awareness and various technical improvement activities related to curing blindness will be organized under this policy.