A MOBILE eye clinic is now available to provide essential eye care at a primary level to the rural and urban populace and to tackle the two major causes of blindness: diabetic eye disease and glaucoma.
The fully-equipped $84,000 mobile eye clinic, a Mitsubishi Rosa Bus, was a contribution from Goh Hock Kee Motors Sdn Bhd, as well as other donors, to the Ministry of Health.
In its press statement, Goh Hock Kee Motors said that with the availability of this mobile eye clinic, it would greatly improve the effectiveness of healthcare services to the rural people who will benefit tremendously from this project.
Mohan Ramalingam, specialist ophthalmologist at the Raja Isteri Pengiran Anak Saleha (Ripas) Hospital, told The Brunei Times that because many people did not go to the eye clinic for check-ups, the eye clinic would go to them.
“We are now going to take healthcare to the doorsteps of the public,” he said. “The mobile eye clinic is important because it will allow us to go to the people who are suspected with glaucoma, and to refer them to the nearest hospital for treatment.”
However, the mobile eye clinic will also serve the public by providing general eye-checking services.
Minister of Health Pehin Orang Kaya Indera Pahlawan Dato Seri Setia Hj Suyoi Hj Osman said that hopefully efforts undertaken to introduce the mobile eye clinic would enable the ministry to be one step closer in eliminating preventable blindness, the objective of Vision 2020.
Pehin Dato Hj Suyoi added that with the primary care currently undertaken at peripheral clinics to manage basic eye conditions at an earlier stage, it will soon be extended to “all peripheral centres”.
On hand to present the symbolic key of the mobile eye clinic to the minister of health was Pehin Kapitan Lela Diraja Dato Paduka Goh King Chin, managing director of Goh Hock Kee Motors.
The ceremony was held at the car park at the Ministry of Health on Commonwealth Drive.
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