A subsidised eye-check service will be offered to about 1,000 elderly people with financial difficulties under a plan by Polytechnic University and the Tung Wah Group of Hospitals.
The one-year Smart Eye Project is funded by the hospital group's Eddie Wang Charitable Fund for the Disadvantaged, which is giving HK$270,000 to the scheme.
Each participant will pay HK$30 for the eye-check service package.
About 700 people will undergo eye checks carried out by students from the university's school of optometry under the supervision of qualified professional opticians at the institution, while the remaining 300 will receive the service at clinics from hospital group staff.
Referral letters will be issued to those who need medical treatment. The hospital group's corporate communications manager, Ivy Lau Koon-wah, said many elderly thought it was normal to have blurred vision.
'Some even avoid going out, as they cannot see things clearly.'
