Health Secretary Francisco Duque made the revelation that close to half a million people in the Philippines are blind and 62 percent of the cases are due to cataracts.
He told reporters during a press conference, "Blindness affects close to half a million people in the country and about a hundred Filipino children lose their eyesight every week."
The secretary adds the World Health Organization has raised its alarm over the problem of blindness in the Philippines.
He cited poor nutrition, measles, and premature birth as the leading causes of blindness among children, and he said all these were preventable if properly treated and on time.
"With early detection and treatment we know that we could save a lot of people from losing their sight as well as from disability and poverty," Duque said.
According to him, it is a grim reality that a vast majority of Filipinos particularly those living in the rural areas still have no access to eye clinics or ophthalmologists due to the high cost of medicine and the lack of doctors.
