KARACHI, Oct 23: Around 22.62 per cent of the 18,783 students from different schools in the city, aged between 6 to 15 years, were found to be suffering from one or the other kind of eye ailments and at the increased risk of varied complications.
A team of ophthalmologists and paramedics visiting these schools under a “school screening programme” initiated by the Care and Kindness since early this year found 11.24 per cent of the kids to be suffering from conjunctivitis, refractive error, blepharitis, squint, amblyopia, ptosis, cataract, vernal catarrh, nystagmus and suspected glaucoma.
Shandana Durrani, project coordinator of the school screening programme talking to APP on Wednesday said
that vision problems affected one in 20 pre-schoolers and one in four school- age children in the developed countries. The figure was estimated to be much higher in countries like Pakistan.
“Vision problems that are left undetected and untreated may lead to vision loss and in some cases blindness, hence early detection is the key to minimizing vision impairment,” she remarked.
She added that squint and amblyopia found among 1.35 per cent of the students required early medical treatment to avoid blindness in one eye.
Similarly, vernal catarrh and Vitamin-A deficiency required timely treatment. Refractive error estimated to be as high as 20 per cent in certain schoolchildren required powered glasses to adjust vision. Ptosis, cataract, nystagmus and suspected glaucoma are the conditions which needed surgical intervention.
Since many vision problems begin at an early age, it is important that children receive proper eye-care at the right time.
Untreated eye problems can worsen and lead to other serious problems, besides affecting learning ability, personality and adjustment in school.
The best way to protect a child’s eyes is through professional eye examination, beginning shortly after birth, at six months of age, before entering school (age four or five) and periodically throughout the school years.
“It is with this objective that the Care and Kindness Society started the project,” Shandana said, adding that the idea was to have five teams of eye specialists and technicians along with a community ophthalmologist visit to various schools throughout the year, examining the eyes of students.
According to her, efforts were not simply to reduce childhood blindness by holding eye screening camps in schools but also to create awareness among schoolteachers and parents about primary eye-care, besides establishing an eye hospital
for children which could act as a nucleus for all activities related to “childhood eye blindness”.
Shandana Durrani said teams of ophthalmologists and paramedics were visiting schools, particularly public sector institutions and those functioning in urban slums, to examine the eyes of students throughout the year.
Treatment and glasses free of charge are provided to the deserving children, Shandana said, mentioning that teachers were also being educated
about early signs of eye diseases like spring cataract, Vitamin-A deficiency, refractive error, etc.
To a query regarding expected workload, she said children aged between five to 14 years are estimated to constitute 25 per cent of the population. While 50 per cent of these
kids, that is 1.68 million of them enrolled in any of the schools, are targeted to be screened.
She said any school willing to get eye screening facility can contact her via e-mail: cks@cyber.net.pk or on phone 021-4380175.
Estimated number of children to be screened in the first year is 216,000, she said, maintaining that community support besides assistance on part of local philanthropists could help meet the estimated expenditure of Rs5 million for a single year programme.
She added that experience during the ongoing programme revealed that approximately 10 per cent of the students screened required glasses, besides those needing medicines and surgical intervention.
