HYDERABAD: Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao will formally launch the Kanti Velugu programme at Malkapur village in Medak district on August 15. Other elected representatives of people will launch the programme in their respective constituencies simultaneously.
Rao on Monday reviewed the arrangements made for launching the eye screening programme at a meeting held with health minister C Laxma Reddy and officials concerned at Pragathi Bhavan. The officials informed him that 812 teams were deployed for conducting eye camps to cover 12,751 villages.
Kanti Velugu is aimed at conducting eye screening and vision test for all citizens. Spectacles to the needy will be provided free of cost.
Those in need will also get the required medicines and surgeries done on them free of cost. At the eye camps, the medical staff will also educate the people on the prevention of serious diseases of the eye.
According to an official estimation, around 250 people in rural areas and around 300 in urban areas will be screened every day for eye-related problems during Kanti Velugu. Of the total number of people to be screened, 40 per cent might require treatment, officials estimate.
In rural areas, the camps will be held at every primary health centre (PHC) and in Hyderabad and other urban areas, the camps will be held in each ward. Each medical team will have a medical officer, an optometrist and six to eight members of support staff like ANMs, supervisors and Asha workers.
Each team will be provided with a vehicle. Each district will have a buffer team of two to four medical officers and optometrists to be used in case of emergency.
The chief minister suggested that the teams should be allowed to work from Monday to Friday and be given holidays for the next two days to ensure their efficiency.
He also suggested to the officers concerned that private, government and NGO hospitals were to be identified for follow-up of secondary and tertiary care. Any number of staff members could be engaged on a temporary basis for successful completion of the programme. Let no one in the state neglect eye-related problems, he said.
GHMC to screen nearly 1 crore people
On Monday, GHMC Mayor, Bonthu Rammohan, Commissioner B Janardhan Reddy and collectors of Hyderabad, Rangareddy and Medchal districts met to review arrangements in the city. Each of the 150 wards will have two eye care centres which will work between 9 AM to 4 PM. They will be located in GHMC community halls and other government buildings. Commissioner Reddy said that all patients would have to produce Aadhaar cards before their checkup. The CM has asked corporators to take a special interest.
Governor to launch programme at Mahbubnagar
Governor ESL Narasimhan will launch at Marikal mandal in Mahbubnagar district. It is reported that health minister Laxma Reddy, native of the district, had personally asked Narasimhan to inaugurate the programme here. Authorities have set up 93 medical teams in the district. There will be 7,632 medical camps. District collector Ronald Rose said that the programme will be held till January 31, 2019. We hope to serve 40 lakh people in the erstwhile district,” he said.
Harish inspects arrangements at launch site
Sangareddy: Minister Harish Rao on Monday went to Malkapur village to oversee arrangements made for the chief minister’s visit scheduled on Wednesday. Banners and posters have been placed at multiple places in villages where the camps will be held. Speaking to media, Rao said that chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao would reach the village at 2:00 PM on Wednesday in a helicopter. “After inaugurating the programme the CM will conduct a gram sabha to get feedback from people directly,” he said.
15% of the State’s people suffer from hypertension
State Health Department officials - through the screening for Non-Communicable Diseases (NCD) - got to know that around 15 per cent of population of the State is hypertensive. The screening has been completed in 12 districts of Telangana. As many as 12 districts including Warangal Urban, Warangal Rural, Peddapalli, Medak and Sangareddy have seen the completion of the screening. “This would be extended to 18 more districts. Earlier, most of the people who got admitted to MNJ Institute of Oncology Regional Cancer Centre used to be in Stage III or IV of cancer. We are now detecting when people are in Stage I or II of cancer,” said Vakati Karuna.