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

Step 1: Understanding the Question.
We need to classify this patient's vision status using the better eye, following the categories used under India's National Programme for Control of Blindness (NPCB).

Step 2: Key Concept.
Visual status is always graded using the vision in the BETTER eye, with best possible correction. Here the right eye sees 6/60 and the left eye sees 3/60, so the better eye is the right eye at 6/60.
The standard categories (based on the WHO scheme adopted for India) are:
Normal or near-normal vision: 6/6 to 6/18 in the better eye.
Low vision: worse than 6/18 up to and including 6/60 in the better eye.
Blindness: worse than 6/60 in the better eye (in India, older programme definitions used a cut-off of worse than 6/60, roughly corresponding to less than 3/60 to no perception of light for "social blindness").

Step 3: Detailed Explanation.
Since the better eye (right eye) is exactly at 6/60, it falls at the boundary of the low vision band (worse than 6/18 up to 6/60), and NOT worse than 6/60. Blindness categories (social or economic) require vision WORSE than 6/60 in the better eye, which is not the case here since 6/60 itself is included in the low vision band, not the blind band.
Normal vision would mean 6/18 or better in the better eye; 6/60 is far worse than that, so option (D) is ruled out.
Both social blindness and economic blindness (older Indian terms) apply when the better eye vision is worse than 6/60, so options (A) and (C) do not fit a better eye vision of exactly 6/60.

Step 4: Final Answer.
With the better eye (right eye) at 6/60, the patient is classified as having low vision.
\[ \boxed{\text{Low vision}} \]