National Programme for Control of Blindness (NPCB), India

Dr. A.S. Rathore¹, Dr. Suman Singh²

¹ADG (O), NPCB, Dte.GHS, MOH&FW
²Consultant NPCB

National Programme for control of Blindness (NPCB) is a NGO driven programme and was launched in 1976 by Govt. of India. Survey conducted by Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Govt. of India, reported a decrease in blindness prevalence from 1.4% (1994) to 1% (2007). During the year 2009-10 more than 5.9 million cataract surgeries have been performed with 95% intraocular lens implantation. Along with it refractive error among children are effectively dealt via school eye screening programme and 30.6 million, children were screened out of which 1million were detected with refractive error and 506 thousand were provided free spectacles. Estimated amount of corneas required annually in India are 100 thousand to benefit corneal blind people while during the year 2009-10 only 45 thousand corneas were collected. NPCB also provide various financial schemes (recurring and Non- recurring grants in aids) to NGOs and other stake holders to further strengthen the programme and made universal access to primary eye care services to the community. To monitor and evaluate the programme State health societies (in every state/ UTs) and District Health Societies (604) have been established. Five percent of operated cases are also being cross verified by District Programme Managers (DPMs) in the community for quality control.

Conclusion: NPCB is one of the most successful public health programmes in the country and moving forward in achieving its goal to eliminate avoidable blindness to < 0.3% by 2020.

Key Words: National programme for Control of Blindness, Visual impairment, India