The Municipality of Córdoba delivered 180 ecolenses that are made with recycled material. This is a project that was carried out through the recycling of plastic caps that were arriving at the different Green Centers and the Waste Transfer Center.
People previously received eye care, being treated and diagnosed at the DEM Center, and then finally those who did not have the necessary resources to obtain prescription glasses, could access them through this program.
Of the total number of patients evaluated, 10% needed two pairs of glasses and 60% required laboratory lenses with high diopters for myopia and astigmatism.
The Secretary of Health, Ariel Aleksandroff, expressed: “we are collaborating with the circular economy, since each frame is the result of four recycled caps.”
The objective of this action is to detect visual alterations early to facilitate their correction. Each ophthalmology service of the health centers dependent on the Ministry of Health works at first by taking the patient’s visual acuity.
Those patients who present reduced vision undergo a second test that consists of dilating the pupils to perform a refractometry; and then, for those who need to improve their visual acuity, the corresponding refractive corrections are prescribed, for the subsequent making of glasses.
According to the WHO, up to 80% of blindness cases are avoidable, either because they are preventable – in 20% of cases – or because in another 60% they can be treated.
Through the ECOLENTES program, not only does it grant access to free eye care in hospitals and municipal addresses, but also the person diagnosed with a pathology can receive glasses that will help correct their visual condition.