Lions Club free eye screening campaign |13 February 2016
Over 60 pupils at Anse Etoile school need glasses
Out of 372 creche and primary school pupils from Anse Etoile whose eyes were screened yesterday in the Lions Club free eye screening campaign, 65 have been found to have problems with their eye sight and will have to wear glasses.
Very early yesterday morning at the start of classes, two eye specialists from Dr Agarwal Eye Hospital, with the help of Lion Dr K. Viveg, a general practitioner, started to screen the pupils beginning with the smaller ones from crèche.
Before that the head teacher of the school, Daniella Antat, and other Lions witnessed the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between Lions Club of Seychelles and Dr Agarwal Eye Hospital aimed at providing follow up screening and subsequent consultation services to the pupils detected with eye sight problems.
Siva Pillay, zone chairperson of Lions Club of Seychelles, and R. Kishorg Kumar from Dr Agarwal Eye Hospital, signed the agreement.
“All pupils detected with eye problems will go to Dr Agarwal Eye Hospital represented here by Orbit Health Care Services Seychelles based on the 1st Floor of Vasudeen Complex at Lodge Street Victoria for follow up treatment accompanied by their parents,” Mr Siva explained.
Upon learning that a few parents did not give their consent to have their children’s eyes screened, Mr Pillay noted that they should not miss a great opportunity to save their children from vision impairment.
“Often parents would never know their children have problems with their eye sight until a proper screening is carried out,” he said, noting that many eye sight problems can be fixed if detected early enough and treated correctly.
He is calling on all parents not to miss such an opportunity and for the different schools to properly inform the parents on the importance of protecting their children’s vision by ensuring their eyes are screened.
Meanwhile the school’s head teacher said all parents have been asked to give their consent through a letter and a few of them have not agreed to the screening without giving any reason and have not called the school to ask for further clarifications.
Mr Siva is calling on all schools where screening is yet to take place to educate and inform the parents appropriately.
Screening is expected to resume at La Retraite primary school on March 24 and the pupils detected with problems will receive their glasses a month after screening.