ABOUT EyeHealthCare

Objectives of the Eye Health Care: 


Agusan Bunawan : 
-To provide better eye care to all people with special emphasis on prevention of the common eye diseases and blindness.


Programme Objectives: 
- To reduce prevalence of blindness from 1.1% reported in 1997 to 0.8% in the year 2005 and 0.7% by the year 2010 with no more than 1% rate in any one region. 
-To manage 100% of incident blinding cataract and 25% of the incident

-non-blinding cataract cases annually by the year 2005 and 100% of incident blinding cataract & 50% of incident non-blinding cataract cases annually by the year 2010. 
-To eliminate blinding trachoma by the year 2010 (No new case of blindness due to trachoma) by continuing & strengthening the SAFE strategy. 
-To reduce blinding complications of diabetes by 25% among registered diabetics by the year 2005 and 40% by the year 2010.

 
Strategies: 
-Continue strengthening primary eye care component. 
- Standardize and upgrade eye care services at secondary/ tertiary levels. 
- Early detection and management of eye problems through screening activities for preschool and school children. 
-Continue implementing & strengthening World Health Organization recommended SAFE strategies to eliminate

Blinding Trachoma

(No new case of blindness due to trachoma complications) 
-Increase awareness of the community for prevention and early management of common and blinding eye diseases. 

-Involve community in increasing uptake of surgery for cataract, glaucoma and trachoma. 
-Strengthen collaboration with partners within the nation as well internationally to generate resource support. 
-Rehabilitate visually disabled especially children and adult of working age group. 
-Update the drug policy for eye care periodically. 
- Continue and further strengthen quality assurance procedures of eye care. 

- Conduct operational research to review emerging eye problems. 
-Build capacity especially of Omani health care providers in eye care. 
-Technology transfer to procure ophthalmic instruments and equipment of standard quality at cheaper rate. 

Problems Remaining: 
The eye health care programme faces following problems, which need to be addressed in coming years. 
-Awareness of community about common eye diseases, their prevention and standard management is less. 
-Attitude of the patients to refuse or delay surgical management of eye diseases like cataract, glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy and trichiasis result in intervention at much advanced stage of diseases which often compromises the results and leads to irreversible blindness. 
-Super-specialties especially at tertiary level of eye care like retinal diseases, corneal diseases, neuroophthalmology, pediatric ophthalmology, strabismus, orbital reconstruction, etc are not yet fully established. 
- Mass media to propagate massages of eye care, increase uptake of surgery and address the underlying causes of blinding eye diseases is not fully utilized. 
-Rehabilitation of visually handicaps especially children and working age groups is not initiated in Oman on large scale.