Ophthalmic manpower in India--need for a serious review

An attempt has been made to estimate the number of ophthalmic surgeons (OSs) in India, their distribution amongst the constituent states/union territories, and imbalances in the urban (big and small cities) and rural areas. With an ophthalmic surgeon:population ratio of 1:107,000 (similar to that in the UK), an increasing amount of blindness in India, the output by ophthalmic surgeons continues to be low. Whereas the shortage of surgeons has been recognised as a critical problem by the National Programme for Control of Blindness, recommendations made at various forums have been restricted only to increasing production of existing surgeons. The key issues relating to OSs in India are uneven distribution, under utilisation and increasing demands on the ophthalmologist's time, due to advancement in clinical ophthalmology in recent years. Serious intervention to streamline distribution and improve utilisation of OSs in government and private sectors is necessary to effectively counter the current menace of blindness. Another option-creating an exclusive cadre of cataract surgeons trained to perform intracapsular cataract extraction (ICCE) for a period of four months in the medical colleges--has been recommended.