450k pupils get eye test under presidential initiative: Tahya Misr

CAIRO – 2 December 2019: As many as 450,000 pupils in the primary stage have been tested, as part of presidential initiative, Nour Hayah, which aims to treat pupils with vision problems, Tahya Misr (Long Live Egypt) Fund said.

The tests were carried out on pupils from the ten governorates of Qalyubia, Sharkia, Dakahlia, Suez, Beni Suef, Minya, Qena, Luxor, Alexandria, and Matrouh, representing the first phase of the initiative.

Figures released by the initiative showed that pupils in rural areas are less likely to have visual impairment and blindness than their urban counterparts, Tamer Abdel Fattah, acting executive director of Tahya Misr said.

The Tahya Misr Fund was created by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in 2014, with the aim of providing financial support to the country's developmental projects.

Abdel Fattah said that it is planned to distribute 132,000 glasses free of charge on pupils suffering vision problems, adding that they represent 10 to 20 percent of the examined pupils.



President Sisi announced launching the Nour Hayah initiative in January this year. It aims for treating 5 million primary school pupils in the country, providing a million eyeglasses, and carrying out 250,000 eye surgeries.

The initiative was launched after Minister of Social Solidarity Ghada Waly complained that many of the school children in the country suffer serious vision problems and demanded that state intervene to help them undergo surgeries, including cataract and glaucoma surgeries, or to provide them with glasses, Sisi said.

In February, Tahya Misr Fund announced allocating LE 1 billion ($56.8 million) to support the presidential initiative.

The money funded by Tahya Misr will help carry out 200,000 cataract surgeries, 15,000 glaucoma surgeries, and 3,000 corneal transplantations, Mohamed Mokhtar, the media coordinator of Tahya Misr Fund said in an interview with al-Hayah al-Youm.