‘Major imbalance’: 15 ophthalmologists per million population in India, says AIIMS study

According to Dr Vashist, there is a wide network of eye hospitals, but still a major imbalance between how specialists and resources are distributed.

He said India has made important strides in expanding eye care services, but significant gaps persist in both workforce and infrastructure — especially for vulnerable and rural populations.

The study, titled ‘Human Resources And Infrastructure For Ophthalmic Services In India’, said that there is an uneven and inadequate distribution of eye care professionals. It added that India has 20,944 ophthalmologists and 17,849 optometrists working at secondary and tertiary levels — with an optometrist-to-ophthalmologist ratio of 0.85 that is below the Vision 2020 target of three paramedics per ophthalmologist.

The study showed wide interstate variation — from 127 per million in Puducherry to just 2 per million in Ladakh.

Despite progress, India still falls short, especially in terms of trained paramedical support.

According to the study, there were also major infrastructure gaps and only 40.5% of institutes offer 24-hour emergency services. Meanwhile, 87% were equipped with functional operation theatres, and only 5.7% had eye banks with tissue processing and storage. An average of 74 beds per million population are available — again an uneven distribution — as per the study.

While most institutes provide cataract (91.5%) and glaucoma (71.5%) services, access to specialised care remains limited in many regions. Paediatric eye surgery under general anaesthesia is available in 2,180 centres — just 1 per 6.3 lakh people. Squint sub-speciality services are offered by 42% institutes.

The study further stated that there are stark regional disparities in the need and availability of ophthalmologists and optometrists across India. Densely populated northern and eastern states like Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Assam, and West Bengal face the most acute shortages, with ophthalmologist-to-population ratios well below national targets. Delhi, Puducherry, Goa, and Maharashtra meet or exceed recommended benchmarks and sometimes even show a surplus. Distribution of optometrists also mirrors this pattern — major gaps in underserved northern and rural regions and higher availability in select urban and southern zones.

Dr Vashist says prioritising strengthening of human resources and infrastructure — especially paediatric and emergency services in most underserved regions is the need of the hour. “We need to have a collaborative strategy, which includes promoting coordinated government-NGO- private sector partnerships for better resource allocation, data integration, service delivery monitoring and data-driven planning, and bridging gaps,” he said.

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