Nee Soon GRC residents to get subsidised eye screening till 2019

SINGAPORE — About 5,000 residents in Nee Soon GRC will benefit from subsidised eye screening from now till 2019 under a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed between Khoo Teck Puat Hospital and Nee Soon GRC today (Oct 19).

The screening, to be held twice a year in community centres in the GRC, is aimed at those above the age of 50 and are not seeing a doctor for pre-existing eye conditions. Half of the $6 nominal fee will be subsidised by the GRC.

The residents will be checked for primarily for Age-related Maculat Degeneration (AMD), the third most common cause of blindness for people aged above 60 in Singapore, as well as conditions such as cataract and glaucoma.

“Eye care is usually not prescribed as part of a health screening package, and we hope that through this initiative, more people will become aware of the importance of preventative eye screening, especially when our population is ageing,” said Dr Yip Chee Chee, head and senior consultant at the hospital’s Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences department.