Dr. Arun Sethi, Dr. VAIBHAV SETHI, Dr. Reena Sethi, Dr. Aditya Sethi
ABSTRACT
Background :
India has the largest population of youth in the world, thereby making them the most important contributors to the Indian Economy in the future. Over 80% of knowledge gained is by the visual sense. So a programme to provide basic eye screening for children in school going age with an aim to provide ophthalmic services and also gather information of the refractive error prevalence in this age group for the population at and around the Gurgaon district has been started.
Methods:
The programme “they see they learn” as a Corporate Social Responsibility project was aimed at the poor government schools where the children and their families were unable to afford this service. All children screened underwent a comprehensive eye examination at the school itself, including the slit lamp examination via a handheld slit lamp, fundus examination via a non mydriatic camera, refraction via an auto refractometer, photoscreener and/or a retinoscopy and subjective refraction.
Results:
A total of 18939 students were screened over a time period of 9 months covering a total of 39 schools in the Gurgaon belt. 11.4% of all school students had some form of refractive error. For a large majority of the students, this was the first time they had their eyes screened and received a pair of glasses. Girl students were found to have a higher refractive error rate 13.3% compared to boy students 10.1% across the schools screened. Myopia was the commonest type of refractive error, around 1139 students were diagnosed with myopia. 410 children out of these were referred to base hospital for further treatment these included children with strabismus 2.1%, Xerophthalmia 1.1%, Congenital cataract 0.8% and other 0.3%.
Conclusion:
School going children require perfect vision else they can be discouraged and there may be a major burden to the Economy of any developing nation, thus a program with screening and intervention aiming at populations that cant afford such basic needs like spectacles is a must in all zones of the country.
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