9,498 pupils in Lagos public primary schools have visual impairment or partial blindness, Lagos The Lagos State Government has said after tests were carried out on 74,000 of them.
Commissioner for Health, Dr. Jide Idris disclosed this today at a Ministerial Press Briefing held at the Bagauda Kaltho Press Centre, Alausa in Ikeja, Lagos.
“The School Eye Programme was scaled up to include training of two teachers in each of the 1,001 public primary schools in the state and installation of vision corridors in 180 primary school complexes and 501 schools were equipped with vision screening kits.
“The total number of pupils screened by the trained teachers was 73,694, out of which 9,498 had visual impairment. Follow up visit for the treatment of the pupils was carried out. 979 pupils were treated out of which 143 glasses were given,” he said.
According to the commissioner, the Eye Care Services Development and Community Outreach interventions of the government which was designed to reduce the burden of preventable blindness in the state, led to 7,206 patients being screened at 41 different screening venues, out of which 4,396 patients were given glasses and 175 surgeries done.