A partnership between the Umbono Eyecare Project, #keready, and the Department of Health is revolutionizing eye care for school children in the Ndlambe area. On Wednesday, August 21, the community of Nemato gathered at Jauka Hall to access vital eye care services.
The Umbono Eyecare Project has been focusing its efforts on identifying and supporting school children with eyesight issues. By working hand in hand with the Department of Health, they ensured that these children received the help they deserved. The Department of Health screened an impressive 8,995 children in the Ndlambe area, and 200-250 of them were referred to Umbono Eyecare for further evaluation. After a comprehensive assessment by the optometrist, 50 students were prescribed glasses to correct their vision.
This initiative is part of a larger-scale effort by the Department of Health to screen 1.8 million children across the Eastern Cape. Remarkably, the screenings revealed that 7% of these children required glasses to correct their vision. John van der Merwe, the optometrist at Umbono Eyecare, praised the collaboration, saying “The Department of Health worked perfectly with Umbono in the Ndlambe area everything worked swiftly with no hassles.”
The event offered a range of services beyond eye care. Various health stalls were set up, providing: TB screening, blood pressure testing, diabetes testing and nutritional screening.
Mobile clinics were also on site, ensuring that community members had access to a wide range of healthcare services.
Mohammed Docrat, Acting Sub-District Manager of the Department of Health, expressed his heartfelt gratitude to Ewau Harris, Provincial Lead for #keReady, for his instrumental role in making the event a success. “I would like to extend my sincerest appreciation to Ewau Harris, who helped facilitate our involvement in this project. His support has been invaluable, and I am extremely thankful for his contributions.
- This article was first published in Talk of the Town, August 29, 2024. The newspaper serving the communities of Ndlambe and the Sunshine Coast, with a weekly wrap of Makhanda news, is available at stores from early on Thursdays.
