Over 50% of school children diagnosed with nearsightedness in Kazakhstan

According to Kazakhstan Ministry of Health, almost half of the Kazakhstani school kids develop nearsightedness (myopia) during studies, Tengrinews.kz reports.

From 50 to 70% of children (depending on the region) graduate from high school with different levels of myopia. Meanwhile, clinical examinations show twice less children to have nearsightedness. The Ministry of Health explained it by the fact that not all parents take their children for a medical examination.

An eye specialist Mukhtar Slamkulov confirmed that there were cases of severe myopia among high school graduates. Dr. Slamkulov said that excessive usage of electronic devices was the primary cause of the nearsightedness. “The Kazakhstani statistics is similar to that in Russia because we have similar education system and penetration of electronic devices,” he said.

The use-abuse of electronic devise such as smartphones, television, computers, tablets and etc strains human eye that is not fit for such conditions. In addition, when using electronic devices, eyes work in close focus that causes people, and children in particular, to lose capacity for long-sightedness.

“No one follows the golden rule of 30 minutes work, 30 minutes rest. Eyes cannot restore themselves during the night. We examined a number of schools in Almaty. Apparently, children fight for sits in the first row because they cannot see the board from the back,” the doctor said.

He added that myopia among children develops from an early age because of their exposure to electronic devices. Dr. Slamkulov said that parent aggravate the situation by allowing children to spend too much time watching TV instead of spending time with them.

The eye specialist suggested putting equipment for the treatment of myopia at schools. In this case, parents would not have to go to a clinic to treat their children.

According to the Ministry of Health, myopia is treated with the use of computer technologies in public clinics in line with the point-of-service plan for free.

By Gyuzel Kamalova