Thousands of cataract patients get free treatment
Thousands of cataract patients get free treatment
JAKARTA (JP): Some 29,000 people suffering from cataracts have been operated on during the last eight years by experts from the Indonesian Association of Ophthalmologists (Perdami) through financial assistance from the Dharmais charitable foundation.
Dr. Mardiono Marsetio and Dr. Istiantoro from Perdami said yesterday that the thousands of low-income patients who received treatment were a drop in a bucket.
"Hundreds of thousands of people are still left untreated for various reasons," Istiantoro said after a meeting with President Soeharto, the chairman of the Dharmais foundation.
The two eye specialists met President Soeharto to report on their free cataract surgery program, and the recently concluded symposium on ophthalmology.
The association began receiving funds from Dharmais in 1986. It hopes that by 1996 it will be able to treat another 10,000 patients and serve more regions.
"For the first few years the project was implemented only in Java, but we hope to expand to other provinces, including Irian Jaya," Istiantoro said.
Cataracts, or cloudiness of the eye lens, is the main cause of blindness suffered by 2.4 percent of the 192 million people in Indonesia, according to Pardami.
The condition is prevalent among Indonesia's poor. People exposed to high doses of ultra-violet radiation, like farmers working long hours under the sun, are especially vulnerable to the condition.
Mardiono said they told the President that there are only 400 eye specialists in the country, and that ophthalmologic education centers are striving to produce more.
Between 1988 and 1990, only 25 new eye specialists graduated from the centers, he said. "We hope to increase the number to 80," Mardiono said.
He said Soeharto, as chairman of Dharmais, has agreed to provide more money for training programs, and help post specialists to remote places like Irian Jaya and Aceh.
"By posting eye specialists in remote places, the expense of sending doctors can be allocated to other purposes," Mardiono explained. (swe)