The Health Department will provide €100 in aid for glasses and contact lenses for all children under 16.
The measure will be implemented in September throughout the State and will cost 48 million euros.
Barcelona"A child's ability to see the classroom blackboard clearly cannot depend on their family's pocketbook." With this statement, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced this Monday a measure that the Ministry of Health had already announced six months ago: Financing part of the cost of glasses and contact lenses for all children under 16 who need them.
Sánchez has detailed that starting next school year, that is, in September, all students with vision problems will receive 100 euros off their glasses or contact lens purchase bills. The measure will be universal for all children under 16 in Spain, regardless of their families' financial situation, the child's specific visual needs, or the autonomous community in which they live. The announcement is part of the VEO plan and will cost 48 million euros.
This discount will be made through the National College of Opticians and Optometrists, the body that will receive the transfer of these 48 million euros, which the Spanish government will approve through a royal decree that will begin processing this Monday. In this way, the College of Opticians will cover 100 euros of the bill for the optician's office where the minor goes to buy glasses or contact lenses to correct nearsightedness, farsightedness, or astigmatism.
A specialist will need to be advised.
As explained by the Minister of Health, Mónica García, to receive this €100 aid, a prescription from a specialist will be required. Thus, when a minor undergoes an initial screening for a vision problem and a specialist prescribes glasses or contact lenses, they can go to an optician participating in the VEO plan to receive €100 of the cost of the glasses or contact lenses.
If the minor already uses glasses or contact lenses, they will be able to access the aid when an optician-optometrist determines they need "new equipment."
According to the President of the Spanish Government, 30% of school dropouts are related to vision disorders. Sánchez also stated that there are up to 721,000 children in Spain who need glasses or contact lenses, but "cannot afford them."
