Mobile Eye Clinic Launched
The new Mobile Eye Clinic is designed to dramatically reduce the burden of non-communicable diseases (NCD) like cataract and diabetes-related eye disease.
This was relayed yesterday during the launching of Pacific Eye Institute’s (PEI) latest initiative to fight blindness in Fiji by the Minister for Health and Medical Services, Jone Usamate.
He said the Pacific Eye Institute had been seeing patients, performing eye surgery, and most importantly, training specialised eye nurses and eye doctors (ophthalmologists) for Fiji and those from around the region since 2007.
“The Ministry of Health has been working successfully in partnership with the Pacific Eye Institute and The Fred Hollows Foundation NZ since 2006,” Mr Usamate said.
“The Pacific Eye Institute and Fred Hollows NZ are very proud of their new Mobile Eye Clinic which will assist in reducing the burden of non-communicable diseases such as cataract and diabetes-related eye disease.”
The clinic costs over a million dollars.
It is more than just a clinic; it has an operating theatre plus space for eye examinations, eye photography, laser treatment, and spectacle provision.
“The operating theatre has the highest quality equipment and air control, for instance hepa filters which filter out 99.99 per cent of particles in the air, a positive air pressure gradient so that air is leaving the theatre all the time and no contaminants enter the theatre,” Mr Usamate said.
“This clinic is designed to dramatically reduce that burden, allowing for hundreds of additional eye operations and treatments to be performed each year.”
The clinic has four centres in the Central Division. Next year it hopes to operate in the Western Division before moving on to Vanua Levu.
