'Drivers should be healthier'

Dharma SRI ABEYRATNE

'Drivers should be healthier since they are responsible for many lives while driving vehicles, Health Minister Maithripala Sirisena said.'

The minister was addressing the main programme, held to mark the "World Sight Day," Thursday at the Eye Hospital, Colombo. The World Sight Day falls on October 13 every year.

'About 800 school van drivers in the Colombo district will be screened for cataract and other eye diseases.

'Accordingly, free vision screening will be conducted at the Colombo eye hospital. Base on the vision screening, cataract surgeries will be done free for drivers in school transportation service. Besides, free spectacles will also be issued for needy drivers' he said.

The minister said that, poor eyesight or several eyesight related issues of drivers resulted in road accidents. Of certain countries, there is a proper mechanism to check the eyesight of drivers regularly, especially the eyesight of heavy vehicle drivers. Such proper mechanism has to be implemented in our country, the minister said.

Health Ministry Additional Secretary Dr Palitha Mahipala said that 800 drivers out of around 4,000 drivers had been selected by the Health Ministry for treatment at the initial stage. Most of them have to undergo cataract surgeries. After that the rest of the drivers will also be examined and directed for treatments.

He said that around 75,000 cataract operations are performed annually. To mark the World Sight Day 2011, over 100 free cataract operations were conducted in the Kandy hospital on Wednesday. In addition all other 15 eye clinics established in government hospitals also performed number of free cataract surgeries. It has been scheduled to increase the number of the annual cataract operations this year.