KUCHING: Eye examinations should be included in post-natal checkups for children as early prevention and detection of visual impairment.
Minister of Welfare, Women and Family Development Datuk Fatimah Abdullah yesterday said her ministry would take note of the proposal by Sarawak Society for the Blind and National Council for the Blind Malaysia (NCBM) to make it mandatory to include eye checkups in post-natal examination.
In Malaysia, post-natal examinations are provided to newborns until the age of six.
According to her, society needs to take measures to prevent visual impairment because most blind cases are due to late detection of curable diseases.
“Most people are not born blind, it can be due to congenital causes or high fever in young children. Unless detected early enough, the child can become blind,” she said during a press conference after launching the ‘Web Accessibilty’ seminar for the blind.
“We are going to help present this proposal to the Ministry of Health for consideration,” Fatimah added.
Society also pushed for more training for nurses in rural areas to detect early signs of visual impairment.
In addition to that, NCBM president Dato S Kulasegaran suggested that training be extended to pre-school teachers.
“What they can do is take note of signs of visual impairment in children during class or conduct simple eye tests with their students,” she said.
Kulasegaran disclosed that 80 per cent of blindness can be prevented, treated or cured.
“Every five seconds, some will go blind somewhere in the world and every seven seconds, it will be a child,” he said.
He added that about 90 per cent of the world’s visually impaired are in developing countries.
The top causes of visual impairments are refractive errors, cataracts and glaucoma; and the top causes of blindness are cataracts, glaucoma and age-related macular degeneration.