Short-sightedness and scoliosis on the rise

Dr. Nguyen Chi Dung from the Central Institute of Ophthalmology said that the number of short-sighted pupils is rapidly increasing at an alarming rate.

According to a recent survey conducted by the Institute of Occupational Health and Environmental Hygiene under the Ministry of Health on more than 5,536 primary and secondary school pupils from four schools in Haiphong, Thai Nguyen, Lai Chau and HCM City, the number of short-sighted primary and secondary school pupils is 5 percent and 14 percent, respectively.

In 2008, a study on 2,280 pupils suffering from defects in the three provinces of Ha Tinh, Hai Phong and Danang showed that the rate of refraction among secondary school pupils was 26.4 percent. Up to 26 percent of pupils in urban areas and 14 percent of pupils in rural areas were prone to such defects mainly caused by excessive learning, the wrong sizes of desks and chairs, wrong sitting position, poor light and intensive use of computers and TVs.

Meanwhile, spinal column disease is rising among pupils. The number of affected pupils in Hanoi in 2004-2005 was 18.9 percent of which boys accounted for 19.6 percent and girls 18.3 percent. If the figure was based on academic levels, primary schools accounted for 17.2 percent, secondary school 22.2 percent and high schools 18.8 percent. In addition, a survey carried out by the Central Institute of Facio-Maxillo-Odontology in 2001 in 14 provinces across 7 regions throughout the country indicated that 84.9 percent of children at 6-8 years old had tooth decay and 71.7 percent of children tooth-related diseases.

The Institutes of Occupational Health and Environmental Protection in Haiphong, Thai Nguyen and HCM City reported that between 25-75 percent of districts failed to meet the requirements for schools and playgrounds. 70 percent of the classrooms were poorly lighted, and 92 percent equipped with improper blackboards, desks and chairs.

Recruitment: a serious problem

Vietnam now has more than 36,000 schools at all levels with nearly 25 million pupils, accounting for about 26 percent of the country’s total population. However, there is a shortage of school medical workers and many of them still lack professional skills.

According to reports by preventive healthcare centres in provinces and cities nationwide, only 5,616 schools have medical workers. Around 37.1 percent of high schools have medical workers, while 24.2 percent of secondary schools have medical workers. Some localities have overcome the shortage of school medical workers by sending medical workers from communal healthcare centres to school to work part-time.

Doctor Nguyen Lan Dung, head of the school healthcare section at the Ho Chi Minh City Department for Education and Training, said that although the city is recording a rapid socio-economic development, it still lacks school medical workers with good professional skills. Only 40 percent of schools in HCM City have medical workers. The HCM City Department for Education and Training is currently working with the Pham Ngoc Thanh University of Medicine to train school medical workers, and hope that in the next 3-4 years the city will have medical workers in all of its schools.

Sharing Mr Dung’s view, Doctor Dang Ngoc Thanh, who is acting director of the school healthcare section under the Thua Thien-Hue Department for Education and Training, also raised concerns about the shortage of school medical workers. Although schools are allowed to employ their own medical workers, it is no easy task. Only 134 out of 570 schools in Thua Thien-Hue now have medical workers, he said.

Dr. Tran Dac Phu, deputy head of the Preventive Healthcare Department under the Ministry of Health, said that thanks to the Prime Minister’s Decree 23, the number of school medical workers has increased remarkably, from 6,620 in 2005 to 15,583 in 2008. Of them, 1,377 medical workers were recruited officially to work at schools (around 8.8 percent), while others work at schools as a part-time job.

Dr Phu also attributed the shortage of school medical workers to low salaries and short-term labour contracts. For instance, schools in HCM City can only recruit medical workers on a nine-month contract, he added./.