Almost 20,000 nursery children have benefitted from medical screening under the Child and Youth Health Programme (CYHP), since its launch in August 2023.
This is according to Minister of Health, Dr Frank Anthony during the recent launch of the government’s eye testing and spectacles programme.
The health minister explained that the CYHP programme is aimed at improving children’s and adolescents’ health by facilitating screenings for oral health, hearing, and vision.
He said it forms part of the government’s vision to expand the services offered by the health ministry on a national scale.
“In this year’s budget, the president made sure that we had adequate resources so that we could do a nationally scaled programme,” the minister said.
He added, “[For] every child in Guyana, we want to make sure that we screen them, but we also want to screen their hearing, and we are also doing dental and general checkups.”
Highlighting the program’s benefits, the health minister encouraged parents to get involved and ensure their children receive follow-up care for optimal health outcomes.
This year, the government is placing keen focus on expanding the screening to primary school children.
“This year, we have set ourselves an objective of screening close to 180,000 children. It is a big programme, and one component of that programme is eye screening,” Dr Anthony said.
Another key facet of the programme is public-private collaboration, and according to Minister Anthony, several private institutions have partnered with the ministry to provide screening services.
Vouchers for the eye care programme are valid at Da Silva’s Optical, Miracle Vision Care, Regina’s Optical, Courts Optical, Optique Vision Care, Dr Balwant Singh Hospital, among other institutions.
