DOH pushes quality, affordable eye care

by Jemin B. Guillermo

Manila (19 August) — Blindness is most common among the elderly and the poor who have no access to health facilities, the Department of Health said.

Health Secretary Francisco Duque III disclosed that millions of people globally live with low vision and blindness.

He said that data from the 2002 World Health Organization (WHO) show that approximately 314 million people worldwide are having eye impairment.

Duque said that the global figure translates to 3.4 million Filipinos who are visually impaired, according to the 3rd National Blindness Survey done in 2002, of which 3.2 million have visual impairment in one or both eyes while 461,121 are blind in both eyes.

In order to provide Filipinos with access to eye care services, Duque revealed that they have coordinated a nationwide eye screening and cataract surgery with selected government and private hospitals.

He also urged the public to have their eyes checked up to prevent blindness later in life.

He explained that as one grows older, one gets more prone to have an error of refraction, or glaucoma, or cataract, or blindness due to diabetes or hypertension.

Duque stressed that quality and affordable eye care must be made accessible to all Filipinos of all social strata.

“This is a basic right that should be accorded to everyone, without discrimination as to age, sex, gender, religion, race, or social standing”, he said, adding that the challenge now is how to bring affordable and excellent eye care to all areas of the country.

This year, the DOH and its partner agencies and organizations under the National Committee for Sight Preservation, aims to put up local Committees for Sight Preservation in the different regions and provinces of the country.

Under their local chief executives (LCEs), said committees will coordinate the delivery of eye care services at the local level, such as eye screening and cataract surgery programs for the indigent constituents of the community.

The initiative is part of the national observance of Sight-Saving Month this August with a theme “Excellence and Equity in Eye Care: A Human Right.” (PIA)