Hamad Medical Corporation's (HMC) ophthalmology Department is focusing on preventing and treating common eye impairments among children, including amblyopia or lazy eye.
“The paediatric age group is our big concern because usually they are in the development of visual activity and visual identification,” specialist ophthalmologist Dr Deena Safwan H H Zeedan said on the sidelines of the World Sight Day 2018 celebration in Doha on Thursday.
HMC offered free eye screenings and other tests for visitors and hospital staff from 7am to 3pm to mark the one-day event, themed as ‘Eye Care Everywhere.’
Dr Zeedan, also a member of HMC’s blindness prevention committee, noted that reflective errors and squints are factors which can also reduce the development of the child’s vision, and could affect his or her studies in school indirectly.
In a bid to raise public awareness, she said they visit various schools in Doha to educate young students on proper eye care and disease prevention.
HMC also conducts different eye tests as part of the programme for vision checking and notifies either those wearing or in need of eye glasses who will then be referred to its clinic if immediate action is needed.
Ophthalmology resident Dr Abdulaziz Sultan R M al-Kaabi stressed the importance of regular eye screening to detect these impairments at an early stage.
“Amblyopia or lazy eye must be treated immediately to avoid any serious complications,” he noted.
Dr al-Kaabi strongly recommends proper corrective measures such as wearing glasses at an early age than “to detect the impairment late, and get no benefit from it at all.”
Regular tests and screenings significantly help in avoiding, as well as preventing the progressions of various eye diseases such as cataracts and glaucoma, he said.
“The trend is increasing among young children due to modern life, they live in small rooms and do not have wide area for their eyes to see, so this is where most of the eye diseases come,” he pointed out.
Dr al-Kaabi encouraged Qatar residents to avail HMC’s free eye examinations, held at public places such as malls, adding that they also have a team of sub specialties at the Ophthalmology Department who serves all categories, including pediatric age group.
“This will change their lives and it is more of preventing eye diseases,” he added. “We also advise people to use eye drops or lubricants especially when the weather is hot and dry.”
The two ophthalmology residents urged people to use or wear safety equipment when working or doing different activities to avoid eye injuries, which can lead to blindness.
“Trauma has a very high percentage in Qatar and we usually see it in the emergency room especially for workers who are not putting their safety gears, resulting to damage and in some cases, permanent visual loss,” Dr Zeedan added.
