VietNamNet Bridge – Around three million children at the age of 5-16 have to wear glasses, according to Dr. Nguyen Chi Dung from the Central Eye Hospital.

At present, up to 40-50 percent of pupils in cities and 10-15 percent of pupils in the countryside suffer from eye defects. Around 10 percent of poor pupils need assistance to be able to buy glasses.

Experts said that the rate of kids with eye defects is rising, since they study without sufficient light and spend a lot of time watching TV, play computer games, etc.

Dr. Do Nhu Hon, director of the Central Eye Hospital, said that Vietnam has about 1.5 million blind people and around 500,000 people who lost eyesight due to eye diseases, mainly cataract (66 percent), Glaucoma (6.5 percent) and side-effects after operations (4.1 percent).

According to Hon, the number of people who are losing eyesight has fell in comparison with ten years ago, thanks to the assistance of the government as well as domestic and foreign organizations.

However, a recent national survey revealed that around 10-30 percent of poor patients cannot afford eye treatment. Health insurance can cover from 30-80 percent of treatment fees.

Vietnam also lacks eye doctors, for example Binh Dinh province in central Vietnam has only 31 eye doctors.

Experts said that Vietnam should have a plan to help poor patients and train more eye doctors.

PV