BANDUNG, INDONESIA - A lack of knowledge about eye health is the
main reason behind the high blindness rate in Indonesia, a health practitioner
has said.
The director of the Cicendo Eye
Hospital and National Eye Center, Hikmat Wangsaatmadja, said that Indonesia had
the highest number of blindness cases in the world, after Ethiopia.
"In fact, 80 per cent of
blindness can be cured," Hikmat told the World Sight Day forum in Bandung,
West Java, recently.
Hikmat, an ophthalmologist, said
that most cases of blindness in Indonesia were caused by cataracts.
The high occurrence of blindness
in the country, according to Hikmat, could be attributed to the fact that most
people in Indonesia were reluctant to undergo eye operations, especially for
cataracts, which are a clouding of the transparent lens of the eye.
Many people, according to Hikmat,
did not know that cataracts could be treated through surgery. Because of such
reluctance to undergo operations, he added, one person would go blind every
minute in Indonesia from cataracts.
Hikmat said that the incidence of
cataracts in Indonesia reached 240,000 annually, while the numberof cataract
operations performed in the nation numbered only 100,000.
Deputy Health Minister Ali Gufron
Mukti expressed hope that more people would have their eyes checked to prevent
blindness.
World Sight Day 2012 in Bandung
was marked with the launch of an audio book, Skenario Indah dari Tuhan (A
Beautiful Scenario from God).
The book presents the works of 12
people with vision problems, ranging from poor vision to total blindness, and
included students, teachers and therapists.
The one-hour audio book describes
the feelings, hopes and experiences of people with low vision and the blind.
"We try to help and
facilitate the sufferers to become independent and productive
personalities," said the chairperson of the Syamsi Dhuha Foundation, Dian
Syarief, who also has vision problems.
At Syamsi Dhuha, the
responsibility for low vision and blind patients has been given to its low
vision division.
Apart from giving motivation to
those with vision problems, the division also provides training and
certification for those with vision problems on shiatsu massage, computer use
and writing.
"The audio book is one of
the division's works,' Dian said.
Dian also underlined the
important role of the community in improving low vision and permanent blindness
sufferers' productivity, arguing that blindness was not just a public health
problem, but was also a social problem.
Hikmat concurred, saying that a
blind person who did not receive help could cause two other persons to be
unemployed.
"This is because a blind
person sometimes needs the help of two people and this is not productive,"
he said.
Globally, 135 million people have
vision problems, 90 per cent of whom are from developing countries.
"The economic losses because
of the cases is US$28 billion a year. This accounts for why this has to be a
concern for all of us," he said.
Arya Dipa
The Jakarta Post/Asia News
Network
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