*11 districts of the state get Cataract Blindness Backlog Free Status (CBBFS) from the Government of India
*Work is being done at a large scale by the health department to prevent blindness
*More than 1.80 lakh successful cataract operations completed in the last one and a half years
*Awareness about eye donation is increasing, 351 eye donations in one and a half years
Raipur, July 17, 2025/Under the leadership of Chief Minister Shri Vishnu Dev Sai and guidance of Health Minister Shri Shyam Bihari Jaiswal, the Health and Family Welfare Department of Chhattisgarh is working at a large scale to prevent blindness. Cataract is one of the major causes of blindness, which is generally an age-related eye disease. It is considered normal to have it after a certain age, but vision can be restored by operating on it. For its treatment, quality free eye operation facility is available in 25 district hospitals and 10 medical colleges of the state, a total of 43 health institutions, where eye operations are being done regularly.
1,45,580 cataract operations were successfully performed in the state from April 2024 to March 2025 and 27,245 from April 2025 to June 2025. The ambitious “National Eye Jyoti Yojana” of the Government of India is being implemented in the state, under which all the districts are to be provided with “Cataract Blindness Backlog Free Status” (CBBFS). Under this scheme, patients with blindness due to cataracts in both eyes are identified and they are freed from blindness through operation on a priority basis.
So far, the claim has been sent to the Government of India for declaring 11 districts of the state — Kabirdham, Raipur, Dhamtari, Balodabazar, Balod, Durg, Rajnandgaon, Khairagarh, Raigarh, Korba and Bastar — as blindness-free. The verification work of the claims of Kanker and Bemetara districts is in progress, after which the proposal will be sent to the Government of India.
The department is also alert for the identification and treatment of another major cause of blindness, “Glaucoma”. This is a complex disease of the eye, the patient is unaware of it in the initial stage and by the time it is known, the vision has already deteriorated. The lost vision cannot be restored. Its identification is only possible through regular eye examination. Therefore, it is advised to get an eye examination every 6 months after the age of 40 years. The facility of its examination is available in all the development block centers of the state.
“Corneal Blindness Free State Scheme” is also being implemented for the prevention of corneal blindness. Under this, corneal blind patients have been identified in all the districts, their verification has been done from eye transplant centers and registration has been done in the eye bank. As soon as eye donations are received, they are transplanted on a priority basis. Eye donation is being promoted through public awareness, as a result of which 263 eye donations were completed from April 2024 to March 2025 and 88 from April 2025 to June 2025.
The facility of treatment for other common eye diseases is available free of cost in all the health centers of the state. Special clinics are organized on fixed days in all district hospitals, under which glaucoma, retina, diabetic retinopathy, pediatric ophthalmology and other eye diseases are treated. More than 81,000 such patients were treated from April 2024 to March 2025 and more than 25,000 from April 2025 to June 2025.
Quality eye health services, regular screening camps, examination with modern equipment and the facility of immediate surgery are continuously benefiting the people of the state. The Health Department is fully committed to providing better, effective and accessible eye medical services to the people of Chhattisgarh state.