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Lack
of initiative blinds Vision 2020
Rita
Dutta - Mumbai
The
implementation of Global Vision 2020 ‘Right to Sight’
programme for prevention of blindness, a joint venture
by World Health Ogranization (WHO) and International Association
for Prevention of Blindness (IAPB), has been crippled
by lack of initiative in India.
Even
after a passage of more than two years of the official
launch of the programme in February 1999 at WHO in Geneva,
neither has any national cost estimate been conducted
about the implementation, nor any initiative been taken
to launch the programme at the state level, except for
Andhra Pradesh. While the project has kick-started in
Andhra Pradesh with the state government chipping in Rs
80 crore, the project is lying in cold storage in other
states.
In
October 2001 the programme started in the nodal agency
of IAPB, L V Prasad Eye Institute, with a promise to achieve
the global target in the state by 2005 itself. Vision
2020 sets to reduce global prevalence of childhood blindness
by the year 2020, eliminate corneal scarring caused by
vitamin A deficiency and measles or ophthalmia neonatorum.
It also includes elimination of new cases of congenital
rubella syndrome and have a simple vision-screening examination
for school children.
IAPB,
an umbrella organization which has members from international
NGOs, WHO collaborating centres and ophthalmological societies,
working in Africa, North & South Americas, Eastern
Mediterranean, Europe, South East Asia & Western Pacific,
expects the state government to take initiative. Says
Dr G N Rao, Secretary General, IAPB, "With the encouragement
from the state government, L V Prasad Eye Institute has
taken the lead to develop the programme for Andhra Pradesh.
The implementation has already started. As for the other
states, it is for each state to initiate its own programme."
The
state government cites its own reason for not taking the
initiative. Says Dr Keiki Mehta, advisory committee, directorate
of health service, government of Maharashtra, "What
benefit does the state government have for sponsoring
such a project? The mileage would be taken by IAPB and
WHO. If proper announcement of the project involving the
state government is made, then the government might take
some kind of initiative." Lack of funds is another
hurdle for implementing the programme. Asks Dr A B Patil,
deputy director, ophthalmology, public health service,
Maharashtra, "With 4.5 lakh blind people in Maharashtra,
we would need a major investment. The question is who
is going to fund such a project?"
The
cost of the project in Andhra Pradesh, with 1.6 million
blind people for the first five years is estimated to
be Rs 325 crore. Experts also decry the project as an
ambitious project, difficult to achieve its target by
2020. "With the infrastructure provided to us, it
is impossible to achieve such a target," says Dr
Mehta. In the absence of Vision 2020, experts have called
for more paediatric ophthalmologists to curb childhood
blindness.
To
achieve the target, Vision 2020 states that one ophthalmologist
should be trained in the management of paediatric eye
conditions for every 50 million people by 2010, and one
per million people by 2020. Says paediatric ophthalmologist,
Manoj V Parulekar, P D Hinduja hospital, the only hospital
in Mumbai to have a paediatric ophthalmic wing, "Only
five to six hospitals in India have paediatric ophthalmic
wing. We need to have more pediatric ophthalmologists
in India, if childhood blindness is to be tackled."
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