Nearly 4.8 lakh children in Andhra Pradesh have some kind of eye-related problems, state's principal secretary of health department said during a review meeting on 18th October.

The high-level health review meeting was presided by Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, where in he assessed the number of students benefitted from YSR Kanti Velugu Scheme, which was hailed as a revolutionary health scheme during its launch on Oct 10. "64,08,086 students in over 56,000 schools have received free eye test under so far," Mr Reddy told media. He said that the government is also set to buy new vehicles for 108 and 104 ambulance services. The Chief Minister asked officials to release a GO to increase the wages to Rs 16,000 for sanitation workers in the hospitals.

From December, a financial aid of Rs 5,000 per month will be given to patients undergoing surgery too. Mr Reddy ordered the officials to include Thalassemia, Haemophilia, Sickle cell anaemia patients under the financial aid of Rs 10,000 that is being provided to kidney patients. He told the officials to include four more diseases in the Rs 5,000 pension category from January 1. As a pilot project, from January 1, about 2,000 diseases will be added in the Arogya Sri services in West Godavari district and 1,200 diseases in the remaining districts. The Chief Minister directed the officials to include dengue and other seasonal diseases in the services.

The officials have proposed around 100 maternity hospitals to be set up in the state, whereas, the Chief Minister directed to develop one maternity center in all 175 assembly constituencies. He also asked the officials to make use of village and ward secretariat employees in this services.

"The road accident victims should get services in the hospital instead of waiting for money," he said, along with directing officials to de-notify a few national highways in alcohol shops ban. In 2018, about 29,012 road accidents took place, in which 8,321 people were killed. Minister for Health Alla Kali Krishna Srinivas, chief secretary L V Subramanyam and other officials were also present on the occasion.