Nila Moeloek: 50 Percent World Residents Will Use Faces

The Indonesian Minister of Health for the 2014-2019 period Nila F Moeloek was a speaker (Photo VIA ANTARA)

JAKARTA - Minister of Health for the 2014-2019 period Nila F Moeloek predicts around 50 percent of the world's population will wear glasses because of the digital age. "I don't like digital, I like the digital era because everything is all fast, but it still has to be handled properly with eyewear corrections," Nila said when speaking at a general education activity held by the Faculty of Medicine, Nahdlatul Ulama University, Surabaya, Antara, Friday, January 13. In the public lecture themed "Eyes Health Lifestyle for Gen Z in Digital Era", Nila said the use of digital tools such as cellphones, computers and others makes the eyes tired easily. "We have to maintain eye health by eye examination so that we can change the glasses if they change," he said. Nila menyebutkan ada beberapa teknik tersendiri untuk mengatasi mata lelah dengan teknik 20-20. Di mana 20 menit yang dihabiskan untuk menatap layar, sehingga harus merehat mata dengan melihat benda yang bersiak 20 kaki atau enam meter selama 20 detik. "We have to look deep for the eyes to see distant objects, so we have to rest our eyes," he said. He revealed that eye health is currently being looked at by the United Nations (UN), because eye health is very important for achieving SDGs and reducing poverty in the world. "We admit that education requires vision, work requires vision, even the elderly also need vision because they must continue to socialize," he said. Nila explained that in the 2013 Riskesdas (Basic Health Research) data, there were 6.9 percent of diabetes cases, while in 2018 diabetes cases increased to 8.5 percent. "Indonesia is a country that is high in diabetes. What does it have to do with the eyes? Where diabetes will damage the retina because of bleeding in the retina. Can it be cured? The answer cannot and becomes permanently blind so it is not like a cataract," he said. According to him, it is necessary to prevent diabetes. Because the increase in the number of diabets in Indonesia will have an impact on blindness. "Where blind people cannot stand alone, they need a companion, so there are two people who do not work how much the state lost in this case," he said. Chairman of the Surabaya Islamic Hospital Foundation (Yarsis) Prof. Muhammad Nuh admitted that he was happy that Nila Moeloek finally wanted to come to Unusa to give her knowledge to students. "I want our students to know how eye health is for Generation Z in the midst of the current era of digitalization," he said.