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Medic team opens the public's eyes to eye health awareness
Ni Wayan Leteng, 80, cannot wait for the day she can open her eyes and see the sun she has not been able to see for the last year
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Ni Wayan Leteng, 80, cannot wait for the day she can open her eyes and see the sun she has not been able to see for the last year.
"I can't wait to see how hot it actually gets," she told her daughter-in-law, Nyoman Lisasih during the celebration of World Sight Day at Kapal Hospital in Badung regency Friday.
Leteng was one of the 14 elderly people to receive free eye operations on their cataracts that day.
It was Leteng's first ever visit to an eye doctor, Lisasih said, saying that she was always too scared to bring her mother-in-law to see a doctor about her eyes.
"Doctors said her eyes needed surgery as soon as possible because her cataracts were getting worse,"Lisasih said.
Leteng had her right eye examined that day, and it would be a few more months before doctors could operate on her other eye.
There are many people like Leteng and Lisasih who have let their eye diseases go unchecked, I Gusti Ngurah Made Sugiana, the head of the free eye exam event, said.
"Today around 40,000 people in Bali have sight impairments," he said.
"Out of 40,000 cases of blindness or impaired eyesight in Bali, about 80 percent were caused by cataracts that were never treated,"he said.
Sugiana said he aims to end 1,000 cases of blindness or impaired eyesight every year, beginning next year, by offering free eye exams throughout Bali.
"We will even detect those who are going blind because if we don't, it will take too long for the number to decrease."
Sugiana uses two ambulances equipped with operating tables donated by the Australian government, taking the patients to the Bali Memorial Eye Center.
"Since 2002 the ambulances have driven around Bali offering free operations for people suffering from cataracts and checking for other possible eye injuries such as conjunctivitis, keratitis and other form of eye damage,"he said.
He urged the public, and specifically the elderly, to seek regular medical eye checkups.
Those over 50 should not expose their eyes to direct sunlight, he said, because sunlight can increase the onset of dangerous diseases that impair eyesight and lead to blindness.
He further advised everyone to ignore fears associated with eye operations, including fears of the aftereffects, expensive medications and inoperable diseases.
"Before the 1990s, cataract operations were hard because of a lack of proper technology.
Back then, an operation for cataracts could only be done once it matured, "he said.
"Now it's possible to operate on a cataract even before it has matured, preventing complications that can occur once it has reached a hypermature stage."
He said an operation for cataracts was quick and relatively painless, taking about 30 minutes on average, adding that the medical procedure had advanced so much that the chance of a complete recovery was high.
An operation for cataracts may cost up to Rp 2.7 million (US$284,210) per operation, he said adding that those living in poor villages would receive free cataract operations every year.
According to data from the Health Ministry, over 1.5 percent or around 3 million Indonesians have been declared blind. Half of these cases are due to cataracts.
