Eye Hospital doctor consults elderly patient - Photo: MT
After 5 years of implementing Plan No. 5036/KH-UBND dated November 4, 2020 of the People's Committee of Quang Tri province on Blindness Prevention in the province for the period 2021-2025, with many practical solutions, Quang Tri Eye Hospital has carried out blindness prevention work to achieve the set goals, bringing light and hope to thousands of people, especially people in remote, isolated and disadvantaged areas.
According to the Quang Tri Association of the Blind, the number of members of the association as of June 1, 2025 was 2,657, equivalent to 4.08 people/1,000 people. This rate is much lower than the rate in 2020 of 4.6 people/1,000 people. This is an encouraging result, recognizing the efforts not only of the eye sector but also of the entire population in eliminating blindness from community life.
Over the past 5 years, more than 10,000 people have been screened and consulted for eye diseases each year; nearly 50,000 students have been examined and consulted for school refraction screening, of which glasses were provided to 2,000 students in the school health support program of the Quang Tri Province Community Development Fund.
The province's ophthalmology sector has successfully performed nearly 4,000 cataract surgeries in 2024, helping patients regain their sight and improve their lives. Community communication campaigns on blindness prevention have also been widely deployed in residential areas, especially in mountainous and border areas, in many diverse forms.
To improve the quality of blindness prevention in the locality, the Eye Hospital has organized the implementation of new technical categories such as maintaining the operation of the OCT RS-3000 Advance scanner from NIDEK - Japan. With this equipment, the Eye Hospital has deployed new techniques such as anterior segment OCT, posterior segment OCT, and eye Angiography. Implemented intraocular injections (antibiotics, antiVEGF, corticosteroids, etc.); provided refractive equipment to ensure current needs.
Community activities are also effectively implemented by the hospital. Responding to glaucoma and world vision days, the hospital has implemented many communication activities in the community such as distributing leaflets, posters, billboards; hanging banners on main roads in Dong Ha city and districts and towns; coordinating with district health centers to organize communication activities combined with direct consultation activities during screening sessions at commune and town health stations.
One of the important contents that Quang Tri Eye Hospital has implemented in recent times is the signing of a cooperation agreement on the blindness prevention program in the province with the local elderly association.
The objective of this signing is to increase awareness and access of older people to eye prevention, early detection, treatment and rehabilitation services, thereby reducing the rate of preventable blindness and striving to eliminate the main causes of blindness in older people.
The Eye Hospital has coordinated to build a statistical system on data on blindness prevention in the elderly to serve the planning, evaluation of performance results and implementation of goals when implementing the plan.
Data on blindness prevention and diseases that cause blindness are included in the management system for the elderly. In addition, training and improving the professional capacity of lower-level health workers are also emphasized. Every year, more than 100 health workers at commune health stations across the province are trained in primary eye care and early detection of eye diseases that cause blindness in order to promptly guide patients.
Eye examination and treatment equipment at the grassroots health care level has also been gradually invested and modernized, contributing to improving the quality of medical services right at the medical facilities closest to the people. “The results achieved over the past 5 years of implementing the blindness prevention plan are not only in the number of patients treated, but more importantly, it has contributed to changing people's awareness of the importance of eye care and protection. With the support of the Provincial People's Committee and the health sector of Quang Tri, we will continue to make efforts to maintain and expand the plan's activities in the coming years,” said Director of the Eye Hospital Bui Thi Van Anh.
However, blindness prevention in the area still faces many challenges such as the high rate of people not having full access to eye care services in remote areas, and limited financial resources and medical human resources.
Through the management and screening work in the community of the Eye Hospital, it shows that the rate of blindness in the province is still high, especially among the elderly with eye diseases such as cataracts; glaucoma; conjunctivitis; corneal ulcers; retinal diseases... It is estimated that this rate accounts for 70% - 80% of the elderly in the community. Therefore, to make this work effective, the cooperation of the whole society is needed.
Aiming at the goal of “No one is left behind” in community health care, especially in blindness prevention, in the coming time, Quang Tri Eye Hospital will continue to focus on medical examination and treatment at the hospital and communication, primary eye care for the people.
At the same time, continue to carry out technology transfer and improve professional capacity for grassroots health care. Promote screening activities and develop the eye care system at the provincial, district and commune levels.
Minh Thao
Source: https://baoquangtri.vn/phong-chong-mu-loa-hanh-trinh-vi-anh-sang-cong-dong-194319.htm
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