175,000 children screened at eye camps

Rawalpindi:Al-Shifa Trust has screened around 175,000 students in one year in as many as 550 free eye camps organized in the underserved areas of the country and it was found that fifty per cent of the kids with eye issues had hazy vision, while many had congenital cataracts.

Dr Hasan Raza, Deputy General Manager of Al-Shifa Centre for Community Ophthalmology (ACCO), said that 50 per cent of the children were facing blurry vision, which is convergence insufficiency. It happens when the nerves controlling eye muscles do not work correctly. One eye turns out when people with convergence insufficiency look at something up close.

Talking to media men, he said the second largest disease found was myopia, as almost thirty per cent of the children had near-sightedness or myopia. Myopia is a common vision condition in which light rays that should be focused on nerve tissues at the back of the eye are focused in front of the retina instead.

Dr Hasan said that the number of congenital cataracts is alarming. It is essential to spot cataracts in children quickly because early treatment can reduce the risk of long-term vision problems. ACCO refers such children to Al-Shifa Trust Hospital Rawalpindi, providing them with transport and meals. He said free eye camps were organized in the remote areas of districts Rawalpindi, Sukkur, Kohat, Muzaffarabad, and Chakwal. In these camps, 175,000 students were screened and treated, and 13,000 cases were referred to Al-Shifa Trust Eye Hospital.