Over 400,000 M'sians have vision problems

The Ministry of Health's Medicine Development Division director Datuk Dr Azman Abu Bakar said of the total, 113,000 people had become blind, with 43,000 of them due to cataracts.

"It is also estimated that a total of 1.3 million Malaysians aged 50 and above will experience cataracts over the next five to 10 years," he said during his speech at the launch of the national-level World Sight Day 2017 here, Thursday.

Also present were Negeri Sembilan Health Department director Dr Zainuddin Mohd Ali and the ministry's Ophthalmology Services chief Dr Fariza Che Ngah.

Commenting further, Dr Azman said the World Health Organization (WHO) report in 2010 had also stated that approximately 250 million people around the world had vision problems or were blind.