MOPH Launches Awareness-Raising Campaign on Care of Eye Health

Doha, October 12 (QNA) - The Ministry of Public Health (MOPH), in collaboration with Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) and Primary Health Care Corporation (PHCC), is celebrating World Sight Day, which falls on Thursday, October 13, under the theme "Love Your Eyes", which aims to take care of eye health and early diagnosis of diseases that may cause blindness. As part of the celebration, the (MOPH), in cooperation with its partners, launched an extensive awareness campaign to focus attention on vision and eye health. Dr Kholoud Al Motawaa, Head of the Non-Communicable Diseases Section at (MOPH), said that the campaign launched by (MOPH) is mainly aimed at ensuring that everyone in Qatar has access to all available health services for eye care, pointing out that the campaign includes the distribution of awareness messages and medical advice related to eye health. Dr. Kholoud Al Motawaa added that according to estimates by the World Health Organization (WHO), there are about 253 million people worldwide with a visual problem, of which 36 million are blind, while it is estimated that 80% of all vision loss is preventable or treatable. Dr Badria Al Malki, National Coordinator for Blindness Prevention and Assistant Director of Continuing Care and Integrated Services at PHCC, said that the PHCC has recently strengthened programmes and protocols used for the early detection of diabetic retinopathy, optic nerve diseases, and glaucoma in health centers, stressing the need to visit ophthalmologists for early examinations and check annual eye exams to avoid eye diseases, especially those that may lead to blindness. Dr. Badria Al Malki pointed out that most of the diseases that cause visual impairment and blindness are known and can be easily prevented or treated, noting that eye health care has been included in national health plans and primary care programs as an important part of health care services through all primary health care centers. Dr. Dina Safwan Zeidan, Consultant Ophthalmologist at HMC and a member of the National Committee for the Prevention of Blindness, said: "HMC provides all medical treatment and surgical procedures to eye patients through the ophthalmology departments located in: Ambulatory Care Center, Al Wakra Hospital, Al Khor Hospital and Cuban Hospital, whether in emergency departments, outpatient clinics, retina clinics or eye surgery section. Dr. Dina Safwan said that HMC offers many ophthalmology sub-specialties such as general ophthalmology, retina, glaucoma, cataract, optic nerve, cornea, eyelid, pediatrics, strabismus (eye misalignment), vision examinations, and LASIK. Regarding the common eye diseases in adults received by ophthalmology department at HMC, are diabetic retinopathy, cataract, and glaucoma, while childhood eye diseases are mostly duo to refractive errors, genetic visual impairment, and strabismus. As for the surgeries performed at HMC, include retinal procedures, eyelids and lacrimal tracts operations, cataract operations, glaucoma, and surgeries to correct strabismus, stressing on the importance of conducting periodic vision examinations, as World Sight Day is an important opportunity to spread health awareness about eye health. For his part, Dr. Shadi Al Ashwal, specialist ophthalmology at MOPH, said that the celebration of World Sight Day coincides with the completion of the first phase of the national visual impairment and blindness survey in Qatar which was implemented by MOPH in collaboration with the PHCC and the World Health Organization (WHO), and aims to provide important data on the prevalence of blindness its causes. Dr. Shadi added that the first phase of the survey included many participants aged fifty years and over distributed throughout the state of Qatar, pointing out that the selected examined participants were received in 5 health centers, namely Leabaib Al-Thumama, Al-Wajba, Um-Salal and Mesaimeer. (QNA)