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Conference debates healthcare for the visually impaired
NOT SO RARE:
An eye specialist said in his presentation that Taiwan is thought to have 13,000 blind citizens and another 63,000 with poor vision
By Flora Wang
STAFF REPORTER
Monday, Sep 11, 2006, Page 2
Healthcare for blindness prevention should be established according to the needs of each community, Hsinchu County Public Health Bureau Director Liu Jing-yun (劉靜芸) said in a conference yesterday.
The conference was held by the Taiwan Agency for the Prevention of Blindness, a non-profit organization promoting ophthalmological research, and the Bureau of Health Promotion under the Department of Health, to address the issue of community blindness prevention.
Liu attendees that the nation has moved the target of its blindness prevention policy to focus on non-communicable eye diseases. She added that the policy expressly targets the elderly, students and minorities.
The Bureau of Health Promotion launched an eye care program for senior citizens in 2002, combining local health centers and the community eyesight care system, she said.
"The treatment of eye diseases should go beyond the traditional doctor-patient one-on-one relationship," Liu said. "Resources from the community should be integrated [into the network]."
Public officials should understand the problems people might have in visiting an ophthalmologist. They should also understand prevalent eye problems in the community and patients' needs as well as how far people are willing to travel to see a doctor, she said.
Wang Yi-chung (王一中), an ophthalmologist at the National Taiwan University Hospital, said that Taiwan is estimated to have 13,000 blind citizens and 63,000 people with very poor vision, most of whom fall in the age group between 15 and 65 years old.
However, he said government surveys usually only reflect the eye care needs of the elderly or younger students.
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