Govt launches eye checkup campaign for school children

Punjab government has launched a mass campaign to get the eye sight checked of all the school going children and provide spectacles free of cost to the students with a weak vision.
"It was noticed that performance of some students in studies was getting affected due to weak eye sight as their parents were unable to bear the cost of eye tests and spectacles," Punjab's Health Minister Surjit Kumar Jiyani said here today.
He said he took up the matter with Union Health Minister to get a special plan sanctioned under which all school children irrespective of their economic background would be provided spectacles free of cost.

Besides, a data bank of such students would be maintained in central server and their eye sight would be rechecked every six months and the lenses of their spectacles would be changed accordingly, the Minister was quoted as saying in an official release here.
Necessary instruction have been given to all Civil Surgeons to monitor the progress of this initiative, he added.