New Delhi, July 18 : The definition of blindness has been modified, in line with WHO norms, to give a correct status of its prevalence in India as the older standard showed the country with a higher level compared to its Southeast Asian neighbours, parliament was told on Tuesday.
The National Programmme for Control of Blindness (NPCB) has also been re-designated recently as National Programme for Control of Blindness and Visual Impairment (NPCB&VI), Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Anupriya Patel told the Rajya Sabha in a written reply.
"The definition of blindness under the National Programme for Control of Blindness and Visual Impairment (NPCB&VI) has been modified in line with the definition used under the World Health Organisation (WHO), i.e. 'presenting distance visual acuity less than 3/60 (20/400) in the better eye or limitation of field of vision to be less than 10 degree from centre of fixation," she said.
Among the main reasons behind the change is that under the earlier definition of blindness (visual acuity
