Hundred get free cataract surgeries

Main Stories

TO mark World Sight Day 2017, the Pacific International Hospital (PIH) in partnership with Laila Foundation will be doing 100 free cataract surgeries for referral cases next week.
PIH consultant ophthalmologist Dr Amyna Sultan said patients with eye problem who had gone to urban clinics for an eye-check can be referred directly to the free eye clinic at the hospital.
“It will be sponsored by Laila Foundation so that patients will be seen quickly because the eye is a very delicate structure,” she said.
“There is always a very small window of opportunity sometimes where you will need to act and provide treatment.
“So sometimes when patients are waiting to get an appointment, they can lose out on the opportunity for treatment at the right time.
“I’m hoping that we will be able to offer this free consultation and treatment to the people who are referred to us.”
Sultan said the first national rapid assessment of avoidable blindness survey revealed that PNG had an estimated prevalence rate of 5.6 per cent of blindness.
This meant that 40,000-plus adults of 50 years and over are blind in both eyes and 70,000 blind in one eye.
She said they would also be conducting free diabetic tests because diabetes contributed to diabetic retinopathy, which is an increasing cause of blindness worldwide.