NHM to seek enhanced funds for providing spectacles to schoolkids

National Health Mission (NHM) will write to Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare for enhancing funds under Mission Drishti for screening the eyes of schoolchildren from Class VI-XII in government schools.

Under this scheme, the schoolchildren found having refractive error will be provided eyeglasses free of cost. While the Centre pays around Rs 350 per spectacles, per unit cost in the state has been determined to be Rs 949 through competitive bidding. “It is not possible to provide spectacles at the cost approved by the Centre. We will soon write to the Ministry to enhance per unit cost,” said Pradeep Thakur, Mission Director, NHM.

Himachal Pradesh Medical Services Corporation Limited had floated the tender for choosing the agency to carry out the scheme. The corporation has now finalised the agency which will do the screening and provide eyeglasses to the children suffering from refractive error. “Once the NHM writes to the Centre and gets enhanced funds for the scheme, we will award the work to the chosen agency,” said an official from the corporation. “The hilly terrain and far-flung schools add to the cost of the scheme in the state,” the official said.

Meanwhile, Thakur said the scheme had been running for the past few years but the costs involved had not been revised, which had led to a gap between the approved cost and actual expenditure in every state. As for the extent of eye-related problems among schoolchildren in the state, Thakur said the situation wasn’t worrying at all.