Severe vision impairment in most children in state due to excessive phone use

KANHANGAD: It has been found that the rate of visual impairment among school students in Kasaragod is increasing tenfold. It has been found that at least one in seven children who underwent tests has low vision. From the 16 camps conducted under the Drishti project under the National AYUSH Mission, 144 children were found to have visual impairment.

Of these, only 12 had previous vision problems. 14 children were also found to be suffering from diseases such as cataract, retinopathy and glaucoma during the tests. A total of 784 students were tested. The shocking figures come out while the work of the project, which started in August, is progressing in the schools of Kasaragod municipality and panchayats.

Doctors explain that excessive phone and TV use, junk food, sweets, fried foods, carbonated drinks, etc., not drinking enough water, eating at the wrong time, lack of nutrients in the diet, lack of exercise, daytime sleepiness, and sleeping late at night are the causes of vision impairments and other eye diseases.

It was found that most of the children diagnosed with vision impairments used phones for hours. Most of them were also found to have stomach-related diseases such as constipation and loss of appetite. This is not a problem only in Kasaragod. These are difficulties experienced by children all over Kerala. They can be detected if proper testing is done. It is the duty of parents to get their children into the habit of a healthy lifestyle.