Blindness in INDIA:

Blindness can be classified into different categories. In India about 12million were bilaterally blind 8 million were blind in one eye 36million had low vision, needing regular monitoring.
State wise variation in blindness across country was considerable. In the age group of 50 & above accounts for 90% of the countries blindness which was about 16% of the population. Bilateral blindness = both eyes<6/60-NPL (No Perception of Light). Social blindness = both eyes<3/60-NPL Economic blindness = one eye<6/60-3/60; fellow eye<6/00-NPL Unilateral blindness = one eye<6/60; fellow eye>=6/18 Low vision = one eye<6/18-6/60; fellow eye<6/18-NPL.

Cataract was most common cause of blindness accounting for 62.6% followed by Uncorrected refractive errors. Other causes for blindness were Glaucoma Posterior segment pathology. Statistics were every year around 9000 opthamologies undertook an estimated 3.7 million cataract surgeries in INDIA.

Govt hospitals did about 7.17% 10.16% were done in eye camps 7.86% in private clinics 74.82% were done in NPOs like AEH.

Tamilnadu with 91% surgeries AP stands at 79.7% Orissa stands at 79.3% Maharashtra stands at 71.5% Eye camps were popular way to reach out to rural population. Workflow at AEH: The work flow at AEH at out patient departments(opd) at different units of AEH for Both paid and free services were same. All OPDs began work at 7am. People used to gather much earlier than 7am and Stood in their designated areas. Registrations were started sharply by 7am. Computerized registration took about 1min/patient. After registration patients would move to the case counter located adjacent where case history of patients were recorded by computers. These computers could handle 200 cases/hr. First trained paramedical staff conducts primary studies and later on patients will be sent to permanent doctors.

The OPD in the paying units examined around 1000 patients a day, 6 days a week.
For convenience they also have a spectacles and lens shop inside the hospital itself. There a different options available for paid and free service surgeries. For free surgeries depends on availability of rooms and schedules. For paid surgeries, patients can opt for what type of rooms they want and lens to be fitted. The doctors were rotated between free and paying hospitals so that equal treatment will be offered to all the patients.