1.6m await cataract operations

JAKARTA (JP): Some 1.6 million cataract patients in Indonesia cannot have operations because they do not have the money, Minister of Health Sujudi said.

And the list is getting longer each year, Sujudi told reporters after opening the 8th International Cataract Conference in Denpasar, Bali, on Friday night.

He pointed out that Indonesia receives 250,000 new cataract patients each year. On average only about 50,000 of them can afford the operations, Antara reported.

The government, he said, is working with various private charity organizations to help poor patients. He cited the Darmais Foundation as one of the groups active in sponsoring cataract operations for the poor.

Sujudi said that cataract operations require sustained medical care and special glasses, both of which are more than most can afford. Only about five percent of all cataract sufferers have the financial means for the necessary operations.

The rest, he added, have to rely on social charity.

The minister said he hoped the three-day conference in Bali would come up with ways of reducing the costs of handling cataract patients.

Participants to the conference include experts and doctors from the United States, Japan, Australia, Singapore, India, Malaysia and host Indonesia. (emb)