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We have a bright future as far as

Eye Care in Guyana is concerned

and with the cooperation

between Eye Care Guyana - the

Ministry of Health is positioned

to go to higher and higher

heights.

With a population of just under800-thousand, approximately30,000 adults and children inGuyana are blind or have lowvision .The priority eye diseasesinclude Cataract, Glaucoma,Refractive Error and Diabetic

Retinopathy.

For the Ministry of Health, eyecare has been on the front burnerfor the past several years. TheCaribbean Council for the Blind

(CCB) through Eye Care Guyanahas spearheaded severalprogrammes which include theestablishment of Vision Centresand the training of Refractionists

and Optometrists at theUniversity of Guyana.In 2013, the determination of Dr.

Bheri Ramsaran, the currentMinister of Health, to keep eyehealth a priority has not waned,stating that this emphasis initiallystemmed from Mission Miracle,an Eye Care Programme that wasa collaboration between theGovernments of Guyana andCuba.

That campaign showed us how

much more needed to be done for eyecare, and happily, along with other

organizations like Eye Care Guyana

which was doing some work before,

we decided to strengthen the

partnership that all stakeholders

could participate in providing Eye

Care Services to the grass roots. So

the campaign wasto take screeningopportunities right down to the

villages including the Amerindian

Communities.

Withthis in mind, theGovernment saw the need tocreate sustainable capacity in thecountry - meaning that trainingwould be key. Besides trainingRefractionists and Optometrists,the Caribbean Council for theBlind through Eye Care Guyanahas also made it possible for localOphthalmologists to train atoverseas Universities.

Working together in Guyana

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Eye Care Caribbean and Eye Care

Guyana has provided us with the

opportunity to train at least three so

far.The arrangement is that Eye Care

Guyana through their international

connections, will provide a few more

scholarships and we are looking

forward to that continuedparticipation. I am hoping that with

this cooperation, over the next few

years, we will have a growing

number of Guyanese

Ophthalmologists who could

gradually replace the Cubans and the

other Specialists. Not that we wont

rely on support from the other

countries, but we need our own

national cadre too.

EducationIn recent years, the University ofGuyana with support from theCaribbean Council for the Blindand Eye Care Guyana, launched aBachelor of Science DegreeCourse in Optometry marking areal breakthrough in thedevelopment of Eye HealthProfessionals in the region.The four-year Course which is thefirst of its kind in the Caribbeanhas gone a long way in trainingthe Eye Health Workers of thefuture who are needed in theregions fight against avoidableblindness.

Considering the commitment toEye Health the Ministry of Healthhas also rolled out a campaign torid the population of Cataractsand Dr. Ramsaran believes theaggressive approach has borne

fruit.

Cataract is an endangered disease in Guyana it is difficult to find Cataracts here,

because of the massive campaign that we did. In years gone by, we sent thousands to

Cuba when we did not have our local capacity, now that we have created our local

capacity at the National Ophthalmology Hospital, we continue to mop up cataract

and whatever other Eye Diseases exist in the country. To do so we have continuous

outreaches even to the most remote Amerindian communities. So our success has

been the grass roots approach and the willingness of our Refractionists - trained by

Eye Care Guyana, to go out there.

Incidentally, Guyana was one of the first countries to sign the Vision 2020Right to Sight Declaration, the country was also the first to implement aVision 2020 Strategic Plan in 2013.Based on this commitment, Eye Health Services are available at severalHospitals across the country including the Diamond Hospital.The Diamond is a gem, that is the Centre where we refer patients, from a very

densely populated part of Guyanas coastal area for screening. Every Tuesday and

Thursday a large number of people go to Diamond.

Whenever they are screened and a diagnosis of an eye disease is made that needs

surgical intervention. They are given a special day to go on a minibus free of cost,

but they are also tested for pressure and sugar at the Diamond Hospital

So no one gets on a bus who cannot be operated on-on the same day at the National

Ophthalmology Hospital. It has raised the consciousness of Eye Care. The strategy is

to continue to train workers at the local level.

Primary Eye CareThe Government of Guyana is also focused on Primary Eye Care as the firststep to giving the majority of the population access to quality Eye HealthServices.

The more Refractionists and Optometrists there are, throughout the Caribbean, themore time Ophthalmologists will have to focus on the management and treatment of

the main causes of preventable blindness across the region.We need to take eye care

to the Primary Health Care level before you come up to the level of seeing the

Specialist you must be able to intervene to prevent the complications, the HealthMinister added.Officials within the Ministry of Health are proud of the progress made so farand say the work will continue with the help of the Caribbean Council forthe Blind, Eye Care Guyana and International Partners.Eye Care Guyana has partnered with the Ministry of Health over the past few

years to strengthen Eye Care Services in the country, Eye Care Guyana has been

able to facilitate the Ministry of Health in the further training of Doctors, who were

already employed by the Ministry. We have a bright future as far as Eye Care in

Guyana is concerned and the cooperation between Eye Care Guyana and the

Ministry of Health is positioned to go to higher and higher heights.

http://youtu.be/TGekIS10jVo

Working together in Guyana (video)

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