LESS than 10 per cent of children screened in schools across the Central Division from Monday to Thursday were found to have vision problems.
The free eye screenings were conducted by a team of specialists from the US and the Sri Satya Sai Sanjeevani Medical Centre.
The head of the USA Vision Team, Dr Nitin Shah, a professor of Anaesthesiology and Critical Care at Loma Linda University in California, said they had screened 18,517 children and teachers in four days.
“From Monday to Thursday, we have gone to about 30-plus schools and we have screened 18,517 children and teachers,” Dr Shah said.
“They were distributed with glasses too. And there are a few for whom we don’t have glasses because of the complex prescription.
“We have made a list, and we are hoping to send them back after we go and arrange for those glasses to be sent to Fiji.”
He said he was pleased with the results of the screenings.
“The children’s eyes are pretty good in Fiji. The adults is a different story. I can’t tell you right now about adults because we are doing more only today (yesterday) and tomorrow (today).
“But the need for eyeglasses in children is less than 10 per cent, which is very good.”
Dr Shah outlined two potential reasons the children screened had good vision.
“They have good eyes because of two reasons; one, the food that you are eating here, and second, they probably don’t have the phones, so they are not looking at the screen and the television. So, if they spend too much time on the screen, then their eyes are not going to be as good.”
In terms of diabetes, Dr Shah said the condition took time before it began to affect vision.
“So, diabetes will not be much of a problem in children unless somebody has got diabetes by birth called juvenile diabetes. But it’s in very less people.”
