Half the drivers, helpers have poor eyesight
About 50 percent of public transport workers have vision problems, according to a survey conducted in the capital’s Sayedabad among 1,200 drivers and their assistants.
Of those with vision problems, 76 percent need glasses and medication and 12.60 percent surgery, it said.
Brac Road Safety Programme and Junior Chamber International (Dhaka West) conducted the survey as part of an “eye camp” at Sayedabad Bus Terminal on April 23 and 24.
Kamran ul Baset, head of the Brac programme, yesterday revealed these at the Findings Sharing Meeting on Eye Camp at the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority headquarters in Banani.
At the eye camp supported among others by Sohoz Rides and Fashion Optics, medicines and glasses were distributed among the workers by Brac and JCI. Workers were also promised low cost surgeries.
The initiative was taken ahead of the 5th UN Global Road Safety Week.
Yesterday’s event was organised by the BRTA, Brac Road Safety Programme and JCI with Ahmed Najmul Hussain, director of administration and road safety programme at Brac, in the chair.
They recommended raising awareness among transport workers about the importance of addressing eye problems.
Of the 1,200 workers, 50 percent were drivers, mostly of buses, and 49 percent were assistants and the rest were both.
Twenty-nine percent of the participants were aged between 31 and 40, 27 percent between 40 and 50, and 19 percent between 51 and 60.
According to the findings, 21 percent respondents work from 12-16 hours a day, 40 percent from 8-12 hours, 34 percent from 4-6 hours and 5 percent about four hours.
Fifty-two percent of them work at daytime, 12 percent at night and 36 percent at both day and night.
Although 96 percent of the respondents were aware of their problems, 72 percent of them never visited an eye specialist.
However, 87 percent participants were interested in paying for eye care.
All of the participants said proper eye check-ups and care could increase road safety.
The researchers recommended that the government make vehicle owners ensure regular eye check-ups for their employees and eye tests be required for renewal of driving licences.
It also urged the BRTA and National Institute of Ophthalmology to open eye testing booths at BRTA offices.
Ahmed Najmul Hossain of Brac said the survey shed light for the first time on the issue of drivers’ vision.
To achieve the Sustainable Development Goals 3.6, Bangladesh and other countries have to reduce next year the number of deaths on roads by half.
But, no country, including Bangladesh, are likely to achieve the target. However, Bangladesh has made good progress in enacting a law to ensure road safety, said Najmul, also a former BRTA chairman.
Zahurul Islam, assistant professor at the National Institute of Ophthalmology and Hospital, said the drivers must be brought under a system of routine check-ups and there should be a national guideline in this regard.
Mahbub-E-Rabbani, director (road safety) at the BRTA, said that BRTA had a procedure of checking eyesight before issuing drivers’ licences. “Maybe, its implementation is faulty,” he said.
Transport owners, doctors, and JCI officials also spoke at the meeting.
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