‘One in 10 children needs spectacles in Bangladesh’

At least one in 10 children needs spectacles in Bangladesh for their low vision, but parents often ignores the fact, doctors say.

“Half of them are diagnosed so late that by then condition aggravates,” said Dr Shawkat Ara Shakoor, deputy programme manager of the National Eye Care Plan of the government.

She made the comment at a seminar on Saturday on the eve of World Sight Day on Sunday.

The Day is being observed annually on the second Thursday of October to raise awareness on blindness and vision problems, but this year Bangladesh shifted the observance due to religious holidays.

Prof Jalal Ahmed, Chief of the National Eye Care Plan, said “No more avoidable blindness” was the theme of the day based on which they would organise rally and discussion.

Decade old statistics suggest 1.7 percent Bangladeshis is blind. However, a new survey results will be published next month.

Prof Ahmed said about 80 percent of the blindness could be avoided with early care and treatment.

The deputy programme manager Shakoor said children particularly in cities mostly do “near work” than their rural peers that made them vulnerable to their eye problems.

Study, watching televisions, using computers and other gadgets are the works she termed as ‘near work’.

She urged parents to be aware of that and advised eye check-ups in regular interval.

“Children cannot complain their eye problems. So their eyes should be examined after birth, before going to schools,” Prof AHM Enayet Hussain, paediatric ophthalmologist said.

They suggested school-based screening to find out children with vision problems.

They also suggested parents to take their children to an eye doctor if they see any white spot on eyes.

Children constantly watching televisions from a close distance, unable to take notes properly in schools, poor performance, and headache are some of the symptoms when doctors suggest their eyes should be tested.