The DRROP India programme (Diabetic Retinopathy, DR and Retinopathy of Prematurity, ROP) is a six-year initiative to address avoidable blindness from Diabetic Retinopathy and Retinopathy of Prematurity. Both conditions are increasing in importance in India as the number of people with diabetes increases (now 65 million) and the number of preterm babies who survive increases.

The DRROP initiative works with National and State governments, district health officials, and private and public service providers. The initiative brings together health professionals at all levels in the health system, and is strengthening the Government of India’s health system for the care of people with diabetes and eye care through capacity building. Models of sustainable and scalable services for the prevention, detection and treatment of both conditions have been established across India. Other key areas in the programme include advocacy and communication, monitoring and evaluation, and coordination.

The Government of India has established a National Task Force for each initiative, to guide and oversee implementation. Technical Expert Groups provide specific inputs to different aspects of each programme.

The DRROP programmes are part of The Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Trust’s (UK) avoidable blindness programme across Commonwealth countries.

  • Diabetic
    Retinopathy

  • Retinopathy
    of Prematurity

Key Facts

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6069 Accredited Social Health Activists & Auxiliary Nurse Midwives are trained to motivate people with diabetes to go for screening

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10,392 preterm babies have been screened since the DRROP programme went live, 1970 having then been detected with ROP

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40 Ophthalmologists across the 10 states covered by the DRROP programme have been trained to perform retina surgery

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606 Paediatricians have been trained in the fight against Retinopathy of Prematurity, while 317 preterm babies have been treated with LASER

Latest News

Dr GVS Murthy on the need for ROP upscaling

Hyderabad: ROP is a blinding disorder that occurs in premature infants born at or before 34 weeks and weighing less than 2000gms. It afflicts the eyes of preterm babies that have typically received specialised neonatal care that is oxygen therapy. […]

Business Standard: Two Initiatives against blindness ‘successfully’ implemented

Hyderbad: In a major initiative to address the problem of avoidable blindness in the country, the Union Ministry of Health, the Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI) and other organisation’s have successfully implemented two pilot initiatives on diabetic retinopathy (DR) […]

Countess of Wessex visits Gandhi and Niloufer Hospitals in Hyderabad

Hyderabad: The Countess of Wessex, Sophie Helen, the member of the British royal family, visited State-run Gandhi Hospital on Monday. The Countess, who is on a visit to India to see the functioning of programmes supported by Queen Elizabeth Diamond […]

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