All it took was a team of four social workers helped by doctors to conduct door-to-door screening of 41,254 people in low-income localities of Yerawada and Vishrantwadi areas to gauge the prevalence of blindness. The project that took off in 2015 has now, in a remarkable achievement, been able to make at least four such low-income localities free of “avoidable” blindness, blindness that can be treated or prevented by cost-effective means. At a function on July 26 these localities — Phule Nagar; Rajiv Gandhi Nagar, Indiranagar and Bharatnagar slums — will be declared free of avoidable blindness. It is the culmination of efforts of four years in which 41,254 people were examined at their homes and then at a vision centre, Dr Parikshit Gogate, opthalmologist and trustee at Community Eye Care Foundation told The Indian Express. The project began as part of a collaboration with Operation Eyesight Universal (OEC), a Canada-based organisation that works to eliminate avoidable blindness. “Four trained community healthcare workers examined 41,562 people in the low-income clusters at Vishrantwadi and Yerawada areas. Of these, 32,694 people from 9,213 households had their vision estimated and eyes examined with torchlight in their homes from 2015 to 2017,” Dr Gogate said. A total of 522 people had severe vision impairment in both eyes and were referred to Kesarmal Kanhaji Memorial vision centre in Phulenagar, Vishrantwadi. Another 598 had bilateral cataract while 198 had unilateral cataract. A total of 163 were found to be blind. Those who could be cured were given free treatment while those who could not be cured were issued disability certificate, said Dr Harish Kumar, OEC’s programme manager, South Asia. After a year’s follow-up visit, 474 were still found to be blind with cataract. A questionnaire and interview were done to find out why they were not treating their vision. At least 140 said cataract was not a priority, another 55 said vision loss was expected with age while 274 said they could not afford surgery, Dr Supriya Phadke, opthalmologist at the vision centre, said. “The study also shows the huge task ahead in making the country free of cataract blindness,” Dr Gogate said.
