The New Nation - Internet Edition

BSS, Dhaka

Adviser on Health and Family Welfare, Water Resources and Religious Affairs Major General (retd) Dr ASM Matiur Rahman yesterday stressed the need for creating awareness among all sections of people of eye diseases and their prevention by taking treatment on time.

Speaking as the chief guest at a discussion on the World Vision Day-2007 at the Shaheed Suhrawardy Hospital, the health adviser said many children lose their vision permanently due to preventable eye diseases and non-availability of treatment in due course of time.

He emphasised the need for awareness and care so that not a single child loses eye sight because of carelessness of some one.

Dr Matiur Rahman directed the line director of the national eye care programme to provide the primary-level educational institutions with vision charts to test eye sights of the children, a PID release said.

The theme of the World Vision Day of this year is 'let the child see'.

The adviser said if a child suffers from blindness or poor vision, the child continues to suffer for a long time in life. So, the child fails to contribute positively to the socio- economic life. The Vision Day has laid emphasis on preventing blindness of the children, he added.

Pointing out to the success of the media campaign in creating awareness, he said once the country had an acute problem with the prevalence of blindness and lack of vision at night due to shortage of vitamin-A. But the media campaign and the raising of awareness of blindness due to vitamin-A shortage has virtually disappeared.

He said the primary eye care has been included in the primary health care services. Ten basic messages to prevent blindness of the children have been included in the training course for the health workers at the field level.

Dr Matiur Rahman further said but we have more to do to prevent the eye diseases and blindness as 14 lakh people today in the country cannot see properly or read because of lack of spectacles. Of them, about six percent is suffering from cataract troubles and about 12,000 children have cataract problems.

The function was presided over by Professor Syed Maruf Ali, line director of the national eye care programme and the national eye science institute and hospital. DG of Health Directorate Dr Mohammad Shahjahan Biswas, President of Bangladesh Eye Physicians Association Professor Syed Modasser Ali and former DG of Health Directorate Professor Dr Mizanur Rahman, mong others, spoke on the occasion.