Abstract
We screened vision and ocular alignment of 950 children who visited the pediatrics OPD in a tertiary hospital over 3 months. Children were categorized as pass or fail based on their ability to read the 6/9 optotype of the pocket vision screener. Central/ Steady/Maintained method was used in preschoolers. Children who failed screening were referred to the ophthalmology OPD for detailed evaluation. Mean age of children screened was 8.22 ± 4.81(1-16) years. 51.7% were males and 48.3% were females. 184(19.36%) children failed vision screening and were asked to follow up in ophthalmology OPD. Of these only 65(6.9%) children who were referred were seen by the ophthalmologist. Remaining children were unwell/ unwilling for eye check-up (n=25), took appointments for later dates (n=34), cited that they had already checked elsewhere(n=25) or were lost to follow up(n=35). 1.4 %(n=13) of all children who were screened had strabismus and exotropia(n=8) was more common than esotropia(n=5).
