80% of sight problems are curable
4.8% of Armenia's population needs to see an eye doctor, but very few actually go.
According to Armenia's chief ophthalmologist, director of "Ophthalmological Center after Malayan" Alexander Malayan, people see eye doctors for social reasons.
"The better a person's financial status, the more accessible medical aid is," Malayan told "A1+" and stated that Armenians don't follow up on their health even in the case of a good financial status and accessibility.
According to data of the "Armenian Ophthalmologist Project", 0.7% of Armenians are visually impaired and 4.1% have poor eyesight.
Like in all developing countries, the problems are mainly linked to cataract, glaucoma and diabetes in Armenia as well.
The refraction disorders such as farsightedness and shortsightedness are more common among children.
The head of the medical center says nearly 1,000 patients have undergone operations at the center the past 5 years and no longer wear glasses.
According to him, the latest achievement of the center has been the diagnostic treatment of premature newborns' retina. "When I came up with the idea five years ago, I thought it was impossible. But today we are doing that operation," said the eye doctor.
Let us remind that October 14 is marked as the World Sight Day.
Based on statistics, 315 million people have eye disorders, 45 million of them are visually impaired and 200 million have eyesight that is severe than the average. Meanwhile, 80% of blindness and eyesight that is severe than average are curable.
