Census to identify North's visually impaired schoolchildren
Nadira Gunatilleke
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So others may see’ Organisation chairman Asanthi Mathai and A M
Sahabdeen Trust chairman Rizvan Sahabdeen hand over the
spectacles to Vision 2020 chairman and Health Ministry
Additional Secretary Dr Palitha Mahipala.
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The Health Ministry will hold a census to identify visually impaired
schoolchildren in the Northern Province through the Vision 2020
Programme. There are about 160,000 visually impaired schoolchildren in
the other provinces. The Northern Province was not covered under this
programme due to the conflict, a Health Ministry spokesman said.
He said arrangements have been made to train teachers and prefects to
examine and identify visually impaired children.
"Children detected by them during initial screening will be directed
to the Vision 2020 programme for screening and free spectacles will be
provided," the spokesman said. He said there are about 150,000 visually
impaired adults in the country and the majority have cataract. The NGO
'So others may see' provided spectacles to the Health Ministry to be
distributed among schoolchildren in the Northern Province, the spokesman
said.
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