Doha, November 02 (QNA) – The Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) confirmed that visual acuity examination is mandatory in the primary and secondary stages in all public and private schools of the State of Qatar in a preventive step to avoid the risk of developing visual defects and lazy eyes.
An annual survey carried out by MoPH during the academic year 2021-2022 to examine the visual acuity in schools and included 126,000 students showed that the visual acuity of 14 percent of public school students and 25 percent of private school students is less than the normal rate of sight (6/6).
MoPH, in cooperation with the Ministry of Education and Higher Education and the Primary Health Care Corporation (PHCC), organized a training workshop for public and private school nurses entitled “Methods of Detecting Vision Defects and Eye Diseases” under the slogan towards a healthy outlook for school students.
The Head of the non-communicable diseases section at MoPH Dr. Kholoud Al Mutawa stressed the importance of strengthening the eye health program in schools, as visual acuity examination has become mandatory in all public and private schools of the State of Qatar in the primary and preparatory stages, especially since children at this age are at a higher risk of developing vision defects and lazy eye.
She added that school nurses refer students with lower-than-normal eyesight to a specialist doctor so that they can prescribe glasses and appropriate treatment for their condition.
For his part, the Ophthalmologist at MoPH Dr. Shadi Al Ashwal said that the workshop comes within the first phase of the annual survey to examine visual acuity in schools supervised by MoPH, which included more than 126,000 students during the 2021-2022 school year, distributed among 349 schools, including 190 Governmental schools (73,000 male and female students), and 159 private schools (53,000 male and female students).
In turn, Optometrist at MoPH Mzoughi Khalfallah said that about 70 nurses working in public and private schools received theoretical and practical training on the appropriate methods and requirements for examining visual acuity and filling out the required forms correctly, in addition to lectures on eye health and eye injuries, especially those most common among students and how to deal with it.
(QNA)