Rehabilitation for 50 Children with Disabilities

Eye camp at Patan CBR

On 2017/09/22, free one day eye camp was conducted at Patan CBR for children with disabilities, their parents and staffs with the joint effort of Patan CBR organization and Nepal Netra Jyoti Sangh.

The main objectives were

• To creat awareness about different diseases affecting eyes
• To teach on the ways to protect eyes
• To counsel people on the importance of seeking treatment early to prevent simple eye problems leading to lifelong vision loss or deficiency
• To conduct eye check-up, distribute medicine, visual aid like spectacles free of cost and to refer for surgery for the children with disabilities who have eye problems.

Evaluation of the programme

The eye camp was organized jointly by Nepal Netra Jyoti Sangh and Patan CBR with the aim of preventing and curing eye problems in children who already have physical and intellectual disabilities. The services provided were free eye check-up by specialist, medicines and spectacles. The clients said that this sort of eye camp should be held every six months. The major problems seen were redness, allergy, itching and dryness of eyes caused mainly by air pollution, exposure to smoke, dust and prolonged use of mobile phones.

The clients said they were greatly benefitted by camp because medicines cured their eye problems and they are now aware about taking care of eyes and seeking treatment timely. Parents of the children said "When the child who already has disability suffers from eye problem it is more difficult in daily taking care. If we go to seek treatment at other centers, it is too expensive. The camp has given priority to children with disabilities. We are very happy with the services and we request the organizers to continue these type of programs in future".

The coordinator of the camp said "We are very happy that today this eye camp has been conducted successfully. The children with disabilities and their parents belong to poor socio economic groups, hence they can't seek timely treatment. Also due to low level of awareness they can't teach their children on how to maintain eye hygiene. I feel the parents and children with disabilities have got maximum benefits from the camp and we are happy to provide services to the neediest group of people".

It was stressed by everybody that this sort of programme should continue in future so that the CWDs can get timely treatment and they will not lose their vision permanently because of simple eye illnesses.