Chandigarh, July 10 – In a significant step towards improving eye health and preventing avoidable blindness, Haryana Health and Family Welfare Minister Arti Singh Rao will launch the Ujjawal Drishti Haryana Abhiyan tomorrow. This state-wide initiative aims to provide free spectacles to school children and near vision correction to citizens aged 45 and above.
Under the campaign, over 1.4 lakh spectacles will be distributed simultaneously across 22 District Hospitals, 50 Sub-Divisional Hospitals, and 122 Community Health Centres – making it one of the largest and first-of-its-kind such drives in the country. The initiative is aligned with the National Programme for Control of Blindness and Visual Impairment (NPCBVI) and is being implemented with dedicated budget support from the state government.
The campaign will also screen approximately 21 lakh students in 14,267 government schools, with a target to provide 40,000 needy students with free spectacles. Additionally, citizens above 50 years of age will be screened for cataract, with provision for free surgeries through government and NGO hospitals.