Minister within the Ministry of Health, Dr Bheri Ramsaran, said focus will be placed on advancing the level of training for medical professionals in 2009 to detect students with eye complications.

Speaking earlier this week with the Guyana Chronicle, Dr Ramsaran pointed out that previously medical professionals specialising in other areas were trained in basic eye screening.

He noted that these professionals at the end of their programme will be able to identify eye diseases such as cataract and glaucoma, among other complications.

The medical doctor stressed that the initiative aims to improve the capacity of medical professionals in handling these cases.

The Health Ministry earlier this year trained and recruited the services of a number of teachers and parents to conduct basic eye screening tests on students in schools.

Dr Ramsaran stressed that these parents and teachers will be stationed at health centres closest to the schools benefitting from the programme to facilitate regular check-ups.

He disclosed that the basic eye screening programme for medics will restart in the second week in January, and persons in Regions Two ( Pomeroon/ Supenaam), Three (West Demerara/ Essequibo Island), Four (Demerara/ Mahaica), Seven (Cuyuni/ Mazaruni) and Nine (Upper Takutu/ Upper Essequibo) have already been identified to undergo training.

The training will be conducted by experts from Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO).

The Junior Minister reported that to date more than 1000 students countrywide have benefitted from the initiative supported by PAHO.

The programme is being administered by the Ministry of Education through the Ministry of Health and the Caribbean Council for the Blind.

It is part of the PAHO Vision 20/20 plan and is geared to help Guyana achieve the relevant Millennium Development Goals.

The programme seeks to provide primary health care to students as well as to make early interventions in identifying students with eye defects which may hinder their learning ability.