Eye OPC Celebrates World Glaucoma Week
Glaucoma is the second most common cause of blindness worldwide. The World Health Organisation estimates that 4.5 million persons globally are blind due to glaucoma. In light of this, the South-West Regional Health Authority’s Eye Outpatient Clinic (OPC) hosted its annual health promotion programme to commemorate World Glaucoma Week which was celebrated globally from Sunday 6th to Saturday 12th March, 2016. This year’s campaign theme, “Good Eye Health for All”, aimed to create awareness and sensitization of the challenges faced by persons living with glaucoma and the importance of persons receiving quality healthcare to deal with these challenges.
Ms. Savitri Sankar, Head Nurse at Eye OPC explained that staff at the Eye OPC decided to take a holistic approach towards good eye health and this year’s theme. Members of the public and clients received intraocular pressure testing, optic nerve checks and diabetes retinopathy screening on Monday 7th and Thursday 10th March, 2016. These screening sessions were conducted by Dr. Avinash Jaggessar, Dr. Kiran Naguar, as well as final year students from the University of the West Indies St. Augustine Campus; Ms. Vidya Heeralal, Ms. Ciara Bridgemahon and Ms. Meerala Ramcharan. Educational materials were also distributed to members of the public and clients. These included brochures on glaucoma, the risks of having cataract and maintaining good eye health. Counselling and further consultation were offered to diabetic patients on both days.
In Photo: Dr. Kieron Naguar, House Officer, screens a client, Mr Llewellyn Nichols for Glaucoma at the Eye and ENT Outpatient Clinic.