OUTREACH eye-care trips by medical specialists to rural areas are an essential way to provide treatment for cataract patients who fail to seek treatment at hospitals, Dr Tun Aung Kyaw, a senior consultant ophthalmologist, said last week.

Dr Tun Aung Kyaw, a retired deputy director from the Trachoma Control and Prevention of Blindness Project under the Department of Health, said outreach eye-care trips can cover large numbers of cataract sufferers living in the rural areas.

“Most rural residents don’t seek treatment for cataracts because they don’t know the disease is curable and don’t know they can have their eyesight restored,” he said. “Also, some can’t afford to come to the city for treatment.”

Other barriers to cataract surgery are the long distances some people have to travel to hospitals as well as a fear of having eye operations, said Dr Tun Aung Kyaw, who organised an outreach eye-care trip to Mahlaing township in Mandalay Division from September 5 to 10.

“If they can’t come for treatment, we have to go to them because we think all people have the right to sight,” he said.

However, Dr Tun Aung Kyaw said it was not easy for eye surgeons to take part in outreach trips too frequently because they also had to provide treatment for patients in hospitals and because it was difficult to arrange proper equipment to conduct operations in rural areas.

“The numbers of ophthalmologists and ophthalmic nurses have been increasing in Myanmar but it is still necessary to have even more human resources and surgical equipment,” he said.

“Cataracts are a public health problem and are the main cause of blindness in the country. The disease is related to aging so it is becoming more common as expectancy increases,” he said.

According to the Department of Health, 63 percent of Myanmar’s cases of blindness are caused by cataracts. Glaucoma is the second leading cause at 16pc.

“Most cataract cases start when the patient is around the age of 55 and mosT sufferers are from rural areas,” said Dr Tun Aung Kyaw.