Hyderabad: Kanti Velugu inching towards a milestone, to touch 1.5 cr mark

Hyderabad : The second phase of Kanti Velugu, launched to free the state from preventable eye ailments, is all set to achieve a milestone. The total number of eye screening tests will touch 1.50 crore in the coming days.

As of May 14, eye tests were conducted on 1.42 crore people across the State and a total of 20,69,000 people have so far received reading glasses under the programme.

The State Health department is also confident that nearly 2 crore people will undergo eye tests by June 15 under the Kanti Velugu initiative.

The Kanti Velugu initiative is being implemented in 10,285 Gram Panchayat wards and 3221 Municipal wards where the eligible individuals have underwent eye-screening tests.

The first phase of Kanti Velugu, which was launched on August 15, 2018 in Malkapur, Medak district and was taken up for eight months in which 1.50 crore individuals had undergone eye-screening tests and a total of 50 lakh spectacles were distributed among eligible persons.

Senior Health officials said that in second-phase of Kanti Velugu initiative, in a span of 74 days, about 82 per cent of the eligible individuals underwent eye tests and the department is now aiming to conclude the scheme in 100 working days. While implementing Kanti Velugu, special care is also being taken to ensure other health care facilities in government hospitals.

All public representatives including Medical department, Panchayat Raj, Municipal and other departments are participating in the programme and the government has formed quality control teams at the State and district level to monitor the programme.

Many people over the age of 40 with near sightedness have been visiting the camps where reading glasses were provided to them immediately.

Besides these, vitamin A, D and B complex tablets are also being distributed to people coming with eye problems. People above the age of 50 were mostly suffering from cataracts.

The medical staff said that they are communicating the information about the time of treatment to those who need surgery through phone and doctors were giving advice and instructions to those who already underwent surgery and are suffering from other problems.