Introduction: Cataract is the leading cause of blindness in people above 50years of age worldwide. Despite rapid increase in the availability of quality cataract services, surgical acceptance is still low amongst few sections of society because of the various factors limiting access to cataract surgery. Hence, the study was undertaken to determine the various factors which delays cataract surgery among patients with mature and hypermature cataract.

Objectives: To determine the reasons for delay of cataract surgery and compare the causative factors for delay in cataract surgery between male and female patients. To find out association between socio-demographic characteristics, reasons for delay in cataract surgery and duration of delay in cataract surgery.

Method: A Cross-sectional study was conducted in tertiary care teaching hospital from July 2022 to September 2022 on 82 patients by using convenient sampling method. After taking consent, the data was collected regarding patient details and Routine ophthalmic examination along with detailed slit lamp bio microscopic examination for grading the cataract were carried out. Data was entered in Microsoft- Excel and analysed using SPSS version 23.0.

Result: Majority (28.2%) of the subjects reported hospitals are far away from home as a reason for delay in undergoing cataract surgery. Among them, males (23.3%) were high compared to females (4.9%). Socio-economic status was found to have statistically significant association with duration of delay in cataract surgery.

Conclusion: Hospitals are far away from home and fear of surgery were the main reasons for delay in cataract surgery. Significant association found between socio-economic status and duration of delay in cataract surgery.