TO EVALUATE THE SELECTION PROTOCOL OF CATARACT PATIENTS ADMITTED THROUGH OUTREACH PROGRAMS (EYE CAMPS) UNDERGOING SURGERY IN A TERTIARY CARE CENTER OF CENTRAL INDIA

Aim: To evaluate the selection protocol of Cataract patients admitted through outreach programs (EYE CAMPS) undergoing surgery in a tertiary care center of Central India Study design: It is a prospective descriptive study conducted on camp patients at a charitable tertiary eye care hospital (Central India) from January 2023 to june2023. Wirtten informed consent was taken from patients for participation in this study. Setting:A prospective observational study was performed of all cataract patients admitted through outreach program (EYE Camp) for small incision cataract surgery in the department of Ophthalmology, Sri Aurobindo institute of medical sciences, Indore from January 2023 to june2023. Material and Methods: During the study period 332 patients were screened ..all patients above 40 years of age having senile cataract were included and Patients with age less than 40 years of age, Congenital cataract, complicated cataracts like traumatic, uveitic, subluxated or dislocated cataracts, patients having undergone previously any ocular surgery in the selected eye, patients not giving written informed consent were excluded from the study. Results: Out of 332 camp patients 306 (92%) patients under went small incision cataract surgery and the surgeries of 26 patients (8%) were postponed, as the patients were unfit due to ocular and systemic reasons out of 26 patients, 5 patients had uncontrolled blood sugar, 7 patients had uncontrolled blood pressure, 2 patients had cardiac problems, 1 patient was asthmatic. Conclusion:In our study, increasing age and female gender were commonly associated with cataract. Most of the patients had bilateral cataract and low vision at presentation. Hypertension and type 2 diabetes mellitus were commonly associated systemic disorders with cataract. This study highlights that high quality cataract surgery with a low intra-operative complication rate and good visual outcome can be attained even in camp patients operated in the base hospitals with standard protocols.