Statewide Eye Care Clinics Soon: Health Minister
Day Care Cancer Centres had already been set up across the state
Hyderabad: Health minister Damodar Raja Narasimha on Saturday announced that the state government will establish Eye Care Clinics across Telangana to improve public access to eye care services.
Replying to questions during Question Hour in the Legislative Council, the minister said the clinics would be modelled on the recently launched Day Care Cancer Centres.
He said Day Care Cancer Centres had already been set up across the state, offering services such as cancer screening, diagnosis and chemotherapy. This decentralised approach has reduced the need for patients to travel to Hyderabad and significantly eased the burden on MNJ Cancer Hospital. On similar lines, Eye Care Clinics will be established to ensure permanent and continuous eye care services.
Noting that eye related ailments are rising due to lifestyle changes and increased use of smartphones and computers, the minister said the government was moving beyond temporary eye camps to create permanent facilities for sustainable care.
He said Sarojini Devi Eye Hospital would function as the hub for the proposed Eye Care Clinics. An ophthalmology expert has been appointed as the nodal officer to coordinate between the hub and the clinics and to oversee screenings and surgeries.
A high-level technical committee has also been constituted to study the prevalence of eye diseases in the state and to recommend long-term treatment strategies. The final policy and operational guidelines for the Eye Care Clinics will be framed based on the committee’s report.
The minister also placed details of the previous government’s ‘Kanti Velugu’ programme before the House, noting that Phase I (2018) and Phase II (2023) were largely limited to screening and distribution of spectacles. Though doctors identified about 9.3 lakh people requiring eye surgeries, the programme concluded without carrying out these procedures, he said.
Recalling Telangana’s long-standing eye care infrastructure, he said Sarojini Devi Eye Hospital, established in 1951, has been serving patients for over seven decades. At present, eye-care wings are functioning in 35 Government General Hospitals and 64 Area Hospitals. The state is also implementing the National Blindness Control Programme, in force since 1976.
Providing performance data, the minister said a record 6,12,973 cataract surgeries were conducted in 2024 and 2025 combined. Under school eye-screening initiatives, 33,65,832 children were screened and spectacles were provided to 76,176 students over the past two years.
