Telangana’s high-volume ‘eye-camps’ missing the mark on quality, study

A study by LVPEI has raised concerns over mass cataract surgeries in Telangana, revealing outcomes below WHO standards. High-volume surgical camps were linked to poor vision recovery, highlighting risks for vulnerable populations and questioning the effectiveness of current public health strategies.

Hyderabad: Conducting wholesale mass cataract screening and surgical camps, which is often the State government’s primary weapon to fight blindness, is not an ideal modality and does not yield the desired results.

Identifying hundreds of patients and lining them up for surgeries, and conducting them in government hospitals in a span of three to four days, opens the door for failures and poor outcomes, a recent LVPEI study of patients who underwent cataract surgeries in government hospitals in Telangana, said.

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Telangana and even the neighbouring Andhra Pradesh are not new to the concept of ‘wholesale’ cataract camps. In fact, public health history in Telangana has instances of such mass cataract camps gone wrong due to contamination and failed surgeries. There have been several instances wherein similar camps went awry and patients were brought back to Sarojini Devi Eye Hospital, for corrective surgeries.

The study ‘Population-based assessment of visual outcomes after cataract surgery in four districts in Telangana, India’, published (February, 2026) Ophthalmic Epidemiology, indicated that these high-volume, ‘free’ surgical blitzes may be failing to actually restore clear vision to the very people they aim to help.

While the quantity of surgeries has soared, the quality of the visual outcomes tells a different story. In a massive assessment of over 11,000 individuals across the districts of Adilabad, Mahbubnagar, Khammam, and Warangal, researchers have uncovered a troubling correlation between government-run free facilities and sub-standard vision recovery. The data says that patients who underwent surgeries in government hospitals and eye camps were significantly more likely to suffer from borderline visual outcomes.

While the WHO yardstick for successful surgeries is at least 80 percent, in the four Telangana districts studied, the success rate hit only 72 percent. The WHO mandates that fewer than 5 percent of surgeries should result in poor vision. However, in Telangana study, that number was 11.2 percent. In the LVPEI research, 72.5 percent of the study group had no formal schooling, a demographic hit hardest by poor results.

• Mass cataract surgeries open doors for failures
• 11.2% of cataract surgeries have bad outcomes in Telangana
• WHO standards say that only 5% should have bad outcomes
• WHO says that 80% of cataract surgeries should be success
• In Telangana, 72% of cataracts are success
• 36% of poor outcomes due to uncorrected refractive errors

Past instances:

Warangal (2018):

• 18 patients developed severe infections after surgeries
• 7 patients suffered permanent vision loss and others regained only partial sight

Sarojini Devi Eye Hospital (July, 2016):
• 21 underwent cataract surgeries
• 13 developed severe infections
• 7 patients lost sight in one eye

Nellore, AP (Oct, 2025):

• 10 patients underwent cataract surgeries
• 4 patients had their eyeballs surgically removed to prevent infection from spreading