TIRANA, April 22 /ATA/ Minister of Health and Social Protection, Albana Koçiu, informed on Monday that within the national vision care program, 55,030 children have had regular check-ups during the school year, September 2023-April 2024.
“7,336 children were diagnosed with vision problems and were referred for more specialized checks to specialist doctors in health facilities,” Koçiu said in a post on social media.
Minister Koçiu said that “MoHSP supports the vision screening program even through the 2024 budget for the early detection of possible vision problems in children and the provision of quality health treatment”.
During the year 2024, about 220 thousand children will be supported by the Ministry of Health and Social Protection as part of the program of vision screenings and dental care in schools.
This program was implemented for the first time in 2022 and guarantees vision care for children from newborns to children aged 14, offering periodic eye tests.
This program envisages ophthalmic/optometric evaluation based on protocols approved by the Ministry of Health and the preparation of a national registry for children’s vision problems.
Through this program, it is intended to detect all children’s vision problems in time, enabling other elements related to the rapid correction of eyes and serious vision problems, which lead to blindness, at an early time.
During 2023, over 173 thousand children have benefited from this program.
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