Kolkata, Oct. 2 -- The West Bengal Health department has drawn up an intensive, time-bound mechanism to provide free spectacles to 4 lakh schoolchildren by March 2027, under the blindness control programme.
Swasthya Bhavan had been asked to gear up so that all school students can see the blackboard and read books properly.
Only 10,986 spectacles had been distributed till July this year.
Under the new standard operating procedure, issued by the Directorate of Health Services, every child identified with a refractive error will be tracked individually-from preliminary screening at school and confirmatory refraction to ordering, receipt and actual handover of spectacles.
The department has made it clear that merely screening a child, prescribing glasses or placing an order will not count as completion of the process.
The programme will bring together the Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram (RBSK), the National Programme for Control of Blindness and Visual Impairment (NPCB&VI) and Su-Dristi to overcome manpower and logistical constraints.
Districts have been asked to prepare microplans with school-wise coverage, expected cases, refraction sessions, manpower, spectacle orders and monthly targets.
Suspected cases must be entered into a student-wise line list on the day of screening, while confirmatory refraction is to be scheduled preferably within seven days. Spectacle requisition should follow within a day of confirmation, and orders should preferably be placed within two working days. The SOP fixes a target delivery window of 12-15 days after confirmation. Spectacles are to be distributed at school level.
And recorded as "distributed" only after actual handover to the child. Absentees will remain open cases until delivery, an official said.
The department has also directed districts to prioritise children already identified with refractive errors but still waiting for spectacles. No pending case can be carried forward without a recorded reason and a next-action date. Weekly reviews will track stage-wise pendency, while monthly reviews will measure progress against district targets.
The SOP allows districts to seek support from Sightsavers India and empanelled NGOs where government optometry manpower is inadequate. The Su-Dristi Line Listing Portal has been made mandatory for monitoring, with districts required to maintain digital and physical records. The department has warned that shortages of optometrists, inadequate refraction sessions, supply delays or school non-coverage must be escalated immediately rather than waiting for monthly reviews.
The stated objective is to ensure that every eligible child identified with refractive error receives the prescribed free spectacles by March 2027.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.