Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Health and Population, and Minister of Education inspect the work of the "Our Children's Eyes

Dr. Khaled Abdel Ghaffar, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Health and Population, and Mr. Mohamed Abdel Latif, Minister of Education and Technical Education, inspected today, Thursday, the work of the "Our Children's Eyes, Our Future" initiative at Mustafa Abdel Rahman School in the village of Fisha Selim in Gharbia Governorate, as part of the presidential initiative for human development "A New Beginning for Building the Human Being".

This was attended by Dr. Ahmed Al-Mohammadi, Assistant Minister of Education for Strategic Planning and Follow-up, Dr. Mahmoud Issa, Deputy Governor of Gharbia, Major General Ahmed Anwar, Secretary-General of the Governorate, and Mr. Nasser Hassan, Director of the Gharbia Education Directorate.

The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education inspected the medical examination committees, followed up on the process of registering students' data, and listened to the follow-up procedures during the examination of the students, and confirmed the commitment of the medical teams to provide medical care at the highest level and the students' positive response during the examinations.

During the visit, the Deputy Prime Minister praised the outcomes of the first and second phases of the initiative, and called for the necessity of replicating this model at the governorate level, directing the Ministry of Health and Population to provide all means of support from all its sectors, and expressed his thanks to all partners, especially the Lions Foundation, one of the initiative's partners.

The Minister of Health and Population also listened to a group of students and parents, to express their satisfaction with the level of medical services provided, stressing that the goal of this initiative is to provide a good educational and health environment for students, ensuring that students focus on their studies and achieve the best results.

During the visit, Dr. Khaled Abdel Ghaffar stressed the importance of early detection of vision problems among students, noting that eye health plays a major role in the learning process for students.

For his part, Mr. Mohamed Abdel Latif, Minister of Education and Technical Education, stressed that the initiative reflects the government's commitment to achieving a healthy and safe educational environment for all students, noting that early examination of vision problems helps identify students' needs faster, which contributes to providing the necessary support to them.

The Minister of Education added that the Ministry is working to spread health awareness, to enhance understanding of the importance of health care in students' lives, stressing the concerted efforts of various stakeholders to ensure that these services reach all schools, stressing that cooperation between the Ministries of Health and Education is an important step towards achieving comprehensive development and empowering students to achieve the best results in their academic life.

The Minister of Education also appreciated the role of the Ministry of Health in this initiative, extending thanks to all medical and educational teams that contribute to the success of this initiative and providing distinguished service to students.

During the visit, Minister Mohamed Abdel Latif, Director of the Education Directorate in Gharbia Governorate, stressed the importance of direct communication with students and opening communication channels with parents to raise awareness of the importance of maintaining the health of their children's eyesight, and making a follow-up card for the student with all treatment data and dates for repetition if necessary, and facilitating all procedures, which ensures that students focus on their studies and achieve the best academic results.

The first phase targeted the initial examination of 200,000 students in 270 schools, at the level of 6 health departments. The results of that phase resulted in the actual examination of more than 194,000 students, at a rate of 97.4%, in addition to the medical examination of 10,044 in central schools, and the provision of free medical services to 959 students, 2,411 eyeglasses, and 92 surgical and medical interventions.

As for the second phase, it targeted the examination of 225,000 students, at the level of 4 health departments, at a total of 354 schools. The actual examination was implemented at a rate of 84.8%, in addition to 13,423 medical examinations in central schools. The results of the second phase, until January 1, resulted in the provision of 1,240 medical services and free treatment, 1,818 eyeglasses, and 61 surgical and medical interventions.

It is worth noting that the “Our Children’s Eyes, Our Future” initiative aims to combat and provide early treatment for diseases of weak and lost vision. The initiative aims to conduct medical examinations for primary school students across the country, treat discovered cases free of charge, and perform free surgical interventions for students expected to be diagnosed with the disease. It is implemented by the Ministry of Health and Population, the Ministry of Education, and also within the activities of the “100 Million Health” presidential initiative and the Lions International Foundation, to detect eye diseases for primary school students.