Chairman Sir,
I understand that myopia is the leading eye disease in Singapore. We have among the highest cases of myopia in the world.
There is a growing concern that blindness from myopia would become a substantial public health problem in the near future. It was projected that more than 80% of the entire adult population could be myopic within two to three decades. I would like the minister to share his view on the problem and whether it is indeed a public health concern.
It is observed that increasing myopia is related to the heavy amount of reading and near work that the children are exposed to in school and at home. Such activities are definitely on the rise with advent of the Internet. I would like to know what new initiative MOH has embarked on to prevent the onset of myopia on the younger generation and what is the outcome of the vision care program?
Although laser surgery has been performed to correct myopia in adults in Spore since 1992 and the results have generally been very good. However, SNEC does not believe that it is safe and advisable for children to undergo this surgery currently.
Intense medical research in recent years has led to new discovery on treatment of various diseases, I would like to know whether the National Medical Research Council has committed funds for research related to Myopia and if so, whether there is any discovery of new effective treatment or clinically proven method of preventing the onset of myopia.
(Note: this speech was delivered in Parliament on 9 Mar 2010.)
