Corona has put a lot of pressure on the eye care sectors in our program countries, including Laos and Cambodia, where we have long waiting lists, postponed surgeries, and more than ever patients to treat.
Starting with the structural expansion of eye care in both countries is crucial. The Eye Care Foundation came up with a plan to achieve immediate results and eliminate backlogs. Our plan consists of three steps:
STEP 1: Emergency cataract surgery for people in difficult financial situations
Cataract surgery can and should never be delayed. However, due to the corona measures, waiting times have been too long. Hardly anyone has had surgery lately. To perform the operations, strict precautions are taken to protect both the patients and the doctors and nurses. With your help, we can help the most urgent patients NOW.
STEP 2: Offer extra eye test camps on site
As soon as the situation in the healthcare sector is stabilized, it is necessary to eliminate the backlogs that we see now. Eye patients on the waiting lists will be given an accelerated eye test and, if necessary, a cataract surgery.
For this, we need to set up extra eye camps on location for performing the eye tests and operations.
STEP 3: Train additional ophthalmologists
At the moment, there are too few ophthalmologists for all patients who need eye care in both Cambodia and Laos.
Starting now with the structural expansion of eye care is crucial. With your financial support, we are training ophthalmologists to perform cataract surgery in the near future. Extra capacity is needed.