With over two million people nationwide suffering from blindness and poor vision, the 37-member Quezon City council has passed an ordinance instituting a comprehensive eye-care program for the city’s residents.
Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte said Ordinance No. Sangguniang Panglungsod-2689 gives priority to poor, visually-impaired residents who could not afford the basic eye-care treatment and ophthalmological services that are commonly expensive in private hospitals and eye clinics.
“Blindness or severe visual impairment is usually avoidable thus we should make essential eye care available to all, especially to the less privileged,” she said.
Based on the data of the Department of Health, she said, 332,150 Filipinos are bilaterally blind, while the current number of persons with bilateral low vision has already reached 2,179,733 as of 2017.
Cataracts remain the leading cause of blindness globally followed by glaucoma and age-related macular degeneration as the secondary causes, she added.
“With a comprehensive eye-care program, we aim to strengthen awareness on the importance of proper eye care and promote the prevention of avoidable blindness,” Belmonte noted.
She expressed concern that vision impairment is now considered a serious public health issue of global magnitude.
