Five-year project targets persons with vision impairment nationwide
Five-year project targets persons with vision impairment nationwide
The Global New Light of Myanmar, 14 Oct 2018
URL: http://www.globalnehttp://www.globalnewlightofmyanmar.com/fivewlightofmyanmar.com/five-year-project-targets-persons-with-vision-impairment-nationwide/
Yangon Region government is currently implementing a five-year project from 2017 to 2021 to help people who are blind and visually impaired on a national scale, said U Naing Ngan Lynn, Yangon Region Minister for Social Affairs at the celebration event of the World Sight Day held on 11 October at the National Eye Bank of the Yangon Eye Hospital.
“The national project aims to offer necessary cares to persons with vision disabilities throughout the nation between 2017 and 2021, raising helping hands for the target population”,U Naing Ngan Lynn said. He told the gathering that the most common eye diseases in Myanmar are cataract, glaucoma, poor eyesight, injuries, eye diseases caused by diabetes and hypertension. The cataract is responsible for about 60 % of the total eye problems. Thus, providing effective care and treatment for cataract is expected to protect people from vision loss.
Moreover, there are about 350 eye specialists in Myanmar, providing eye cares and the ratio of eye patients and doctors is 150,000 to 1. Continuous efforts have yearly been made by the authorities so as to achieve universal coverage in primary eye care, including offering eye care at schools, field trips to cure rural people with eye diseases and giving primary eye care trainings, he added.
With the permission of the Ministry of Health, the Yangon Eye Hospital continues to make field trips to offer eye care to people in need in cooperation with related ministries and well-wishers. In their field trips in the last year, eye specialists offered free surgical and medical treatment to people in Danubyu, Labutta, Gyobingauk, Moenyo and Sittway towns. To offer better eye care to local patients, the hospital made collaboration with international bodies from Japan, Singapore, Australia, the U.S. and the Netherlands.
“The national project aims to offer necessary cares to persons with vision disabilities throughout the nation between 2017 and 2021, raising helping hands for the target population”,U Naing Ngan Lynn said. He told the gathering that the most common eye diseases in Myanmar are cataract, glaucoma, poor eyesight, injuries, eye diseases caused by diabetes and hypertension. The cataract is responsible for about 60 % of the total eye problems. Thus, providing effective care and treatment for cataract is expected to protect people from vision loss.
Moreover, there are about 350 eye specialists in Myanmar, providing eye cares and the ratio of eye patients and doctors is 150,000 to 1. Continuous efforts have yearly been made by the authorities so as to achieve universal coverage in primary eye care, including offering eye care at schools, field trips to cure rural people with eye diseases and giving primary eye care trainings, he added.
With the permission of the Ministry of Health, the Yangon Eye Hospital continues to make field trips to offer eye care to people in need in cooperation with related ministries and well-wishers. In their field trips in the last year, eye specialists offered free surgical and medical treatment to people in Danubyu, Labutta, Gyobingauk, Moenyo and Sittway towns. To offer better eye care to local patients, the hospital made collaboration with international bodies from Japan, Singapore, Australia, the U.S. and the Netherlands.