Question

A 46-year-old female presented at the eye OPD in a hospital. Her vision in the right eye was 6/60 and in left eye 3/60. Under the National Programme for Control of Blindness, she will be classified as:

• A. Socially blind.
• B. Low vision.
• C. Economically blind.
• D. Normal vision.

Hint:

Classify by the better eye. 6/60 in the better eye sits in the low vision band, not the blindness band.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is B

This question checks the rule that visual classification always goes by the better eye, and where 6/60 sits on the WHO based scale India uses under the NPCB.

1. Socially blind: this label needs vision worse than 6/60 in the better eye. Since the better eye here reads exactly 6/60, not worse than it, this category does not apply.
2. Low vision: this band covers vision worse than 6/18 up to and including 6/60 in the better eye. The right eye, the better of the two, reads exactly 6/60, placing this patient right inside the low vision band.
3. Economically blind: like social blindness, this older category also needs the better eye vision to fall below 6/60, which is not true here.
4. Normal vision: normal or near normal vision means 6/18 or better in the better eye. A reading of 6/60 is well short of that, so this is ruled out.

Working from the right eye, the better eye, at 6/60, only the low vision category fits.

Let's summarize:

• Always grade visual status by the better eye, not the worse one.
• 6/60 in the better eye is the far edge of low vision, one notch better than the blindness threshold.

So this patient is classified as having low vision.