Self-funding surgery system on the way to help blind
Self-funding surgery system on the way to help blind
Fitri Wulandari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Cataract, which has affected millions of mostly impoverished
Indonesians, has become a national headache, but help may be on
the way soon.
The Indonesian Association of Ophthalmologists (Perdami)
released a report that shows that three million people throughout
Indonesia (1.47 percent) suffer blindness and 1.5 million of
those are victims of cataract. Each year, 210,000 people lose
their sight due to cataract-related problems.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has ranked Indonesia first
with the highest number of blindness cases among Southeast Asian
countries.
With only 700 ophthalmologists throughput the sprawling
archipelago of over 17,000 islands, Perdami estimates only 80,000
people can be operated on each year.
Surgery costs around Rp 500,000, which is far too expensive
for the majority of people with cataract because around 80
percent of those with cataract are poor people.
Perdami chairman Istiantoro proposed a self-funding operation
system because the government just does not have the money to
shoulder the surgery costs, purchase facilities or train
ophthalmologists.
In this scheme, a medical school or a public health care
center, with the help of an international non-governmental
organization (NGO), sets up and manages its own eye surgery room.
"It is impossible to wait for the government's assistance. It
is better for the community to take the initiative," Istiantoro
told The Jakarta Post.
He cited an example of a self-funding eye operating room or OK
Mata Swadana, run by the medical school of the University of
Indonesia. It was set up two years ago with the help of
Christoffel Blinden Mission, a German based non-governmental
organization.
OK Swadana has two operating rooms with international
standards. One is for the well-to-do patients and the other is
for poor patients.
This model allows a "cross-subsidy" system. The wealthy
patient has to pay for the service but the poor do not.
In addition, the NGO-operated eye centers can serve as a
training ground for ophthalmologist candidates to upgrade their
skills, Istiantoro said.
Cataract is a cloudiness in the eye lens which causes gradual
loss of sight. It mostly happens to people after the age of 50.
In a few cases it is caused by trauma such as overexposure to
ultraviolet light, an accident or an injury.
It can only be treated with surgery to remove the clouded lens
and replace it with an implant lens.
"The NGO model has many benefits. We can help more poor
people, improve ophthalmologist skills and money comes (from
foreigners) to manage the facility. Hospitals will also benefit
because there will be less poor people who come asking for free
cataract surgery," Istiantoro said.