Cataract Blindness Control Case Study

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In the early 1990s, it was estimated that more than 80 percent of blind people, suffered from bilateral cataract, and another 10 million had cataract in one eye. Cataract is an age related condition in which the lens of the eye becomes clouded, blurring vision. In 1994, the Cataract Blindness Control Program was begun in seven states in India, where the need was most concentrated. The total cost of the program was about US$136 million. Within seven years of the program, a total of 15.35 million cataract operations was performed which was successful in improving the quality care. The cataract program in India, demonstrate some key features of “scaling up” introducing better and affordable technologies when they become available, and getting to low unit costs by serving a large number of patients efficiency. The goal of coverage of services to treat blindness and severe vision loss was achieved by public education to convince individuals that treatment was possible, and by the use of “eye camps” to bring screening and treatment services to poor areas that had not been served by either government or private providers. Services needed…show more content…
The number of surgeries undertaken in a typical camp was 100 per day. Patients spend a brief time recovering from surgery, and then were sent home with relatives. Once the screening and treatment were completed in an area the team would pack up and move to the next. In the early years the program’s quantitative achievements were remarkable, the impact on health was disappointing; outcomes were poor. Among those NHGO’s the Aravind Eye Hospital, founded by a committed leader, demonstrated a remarkable ability to reach poor communities with a range of quality eye care, including surgical treatment of cataract. In 1992, Avarind fostered a major innovation; the local manufacture of the previously imported intraocular lens, making surgery more
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