Telangana govt’s flagship ‘Kanti Velugu’ to cover 1.5 crore individuals across State

A total of 55 lakh spectacles will be provided out of which 30 lakh will be reading glasses and rest will be prescription glasses.

Hyderabad: On January 18, the State government will roll-out the second phase of its flagship Kanti Velugu initiative, a massive, complex and comprehensive population-based mega eye screening camp that will be held at 16,533 locations for 100 working-days.

Between January 18 and June 15, the initiative will cover a total of 1.50 crore individuals who will undergo basic eye screening and vision tests, receive free spectacles and medicines for common eye ailments. A total of 55 lakh spectacles will be provided out of which 30 lakh will be reading glasses and rest will be prescription glasses.

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Learning from the first phase, the State government has planned this year’s Kanti Velugu to be larger, focused and will be implemented in less time. The Kanti Velugu first phase was a long drawn-out process that was conducted by 827 medical teams for eight months between August 2018 and March, 2019. In contrast, this year, 1500 medical teams will work non-stop for 100 working days to complete the screening.

The health department has completed temporary recruitment of 1491 paramedical ophthalmic officers who will be manning the eye screening camps. Each camp will be manned by a medical team consisting of an optometrist, supervisory officer, two Auxiliary Nurse Midwives (ANMs), three Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs) and one data entry operator. The eye screening itself will be computerised and the data entry will be done by the DEO or at some places by the ANM through a Tablet.

“Kanti Velugu is the brain child of Chief Minister, K Chandrashekhar Rao and is aimed at making Telangana free from avoidable blindness. Apart from the State’s entire heathcare machinery, other major departments including MA&UD, Gram Panchayats, District Collectors and the local public representatives will be working together to make the initiative a success,” said Health Minister, T Harish Rao at a review meeting.

Kanti Velugu-II:

* State government incurring Rs 200 crore for Kanti Velugu II

* To be conducted between January 18 and June 15, for 100 working days

* Will be held at 16,533 locations out of which 12,768 are rural places

* 1,500 medical teams will screen 1.50 crore individuals

* To provide 55 lakh eye glasses including 30 lakh reading and 25 lakh prescription glasses

* ANM will deliver the prescription glasses in 2 weeks

Arrangements:

* 850 Auto-Refractometer (AR) machines hired

* 1500 trial lens boxes

* 1500 Snellen eye charts

* 1500 eye torches

* 1491 Paramedical Ophthalmic Officers

* 1500 data entire operators

* 969 PHC doctors

* 1500 medical teams