Loop News- Jamaica’s Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr. Christopher Tufton announced that Jamaicans are shortly to benefit from expanded eye care services.
“We all accept that a clear vision is a great enabler for economic and social prospects. During COVID-19, the Ministry, due to infection prevention and control protocols, had to curtail the Cuban Eye Care program,” the Minister said in his Sectoral presentation at Gordon House.
“This program was in collaboration with the Republic of Cuba, which provided not only the clinical staff but also the equipment and replacement lenses to support the treatment of the varied eye conditions of our people. We have heard the call from the many Jamaicans who need the program to be restarted.
I am proud to announce that in August of this year, we will see a return of the Cuban Eye Care program to the country,” he added.
The Minister said other eye care initiatives will also be intensified.
“We will explore other eye care centers in public facilities across the island. This will be achieved not only by our collaboration with our friends in Cuba but also through the re-engagement of our local Ophthalmology Program,” he noted.
“It is anticipated that at least 2,000 Jamaicans will receive the much-needed eye care interventions that will mitigate blindness and the negative impact that this condition causes,” the Minister added.
This has started with addressing the backlog of persons waiting for cataract surgery at the Kingston Public Hospital.
“We will continue with increasing the number of diabetics being screened in the Diabetic Retinopathy Screening Program in our primary care centers,” Dr Christopher Tufton said.
“In addition, there is a particular area that we would like to pay special attention to this year. That has to do with our children in schools. Too often we misdiagnose children’s learning difficulties as a sign of deviant behavior in our schools and do not recognize that it could be a consequence of vision impairment,” he noted.
Ultimately, the Minister said, the goal is to address eye care with “greater deliberateness in our primary schools across Jamaica”.
“The aim is to visit 50 schools and to do free eye screening and, where required, to provide the necessary interventions. This will be done over an 18-month period,” he said.
