QRCS holds eye camps in Sudan (26/07/07)

The Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS) has conducted a series of eye camps for students in several parts of Sudan screening more than 671,000 children aged between five and 15 years.

The camps were held in cooperation with an international organisation and the Sudanese Red Crescent with the QRCS spending $340,000 on the humanitarian effort.

Students from public elementary schools in areas inhabited by the poor were identified for screening because this is the age when an eye problem, once detected, can be cured.

A total of 1,451 schools were covered and more than 1,055 teachers were trained as part of the camp to detect eye problems among young students. The QRCS camps conducted some 251 surgical operations and distributed 6,000 eye glasses free after tests. More than 40,000 prescriptions were written by the doctors working in the camps for various eye diseases and problems.