World sight day commemorated

Main Stories

Yesterday was World Sight Day (WSD) and it was commemorated by the Eye Care Community with free eye testing at the University of Papua New Guinea Medical Faculty.
Dr Geoffrey Wabulembo, a senior ophthalmology lecturer at the faculty said that WSD was a time to reflect on what had been done to address vision impairment and blindness in the country.
He said the day was an opportunity for the Eye Care Community to use as a platform to seek support from others because everybody has a role in the prevention of vision impairment and blindness.
He called on everyone to get involved in the quest to end vision impairment with friendly reminders, dissemination of information on eye health, support for blind persons to get treatment, ensuring that children are fully immunised and lobbying for user-friendly infrastructure for people with severe visual impairment.
WSD falls on the second Thursday of October and it is celebrated annually throughout the world and this year’s theme was “Stronger together.
Senior manager of PNG Eye Care, Samuel Peter Koim said that the theme was demonstrated by the Lions National Resource Centre at the medical faculty which was established through a collaborative effort among the UPNG School of Medicine, PNG Eye Care, Brian Holden Vision Institution and some other Lions clubs in Australia.
Koim said that eye care in the country was a sector that was overlooked for many years and the center was one way of addressing the issue through a collaborative effort.