More than 800 patients get free eye medical attention

MORE than 800 people in Moshi District, Kilimanjaro Region have undergone eye examinations, following a free screening clinic conducted by experts from the French based Soleo-Humanitaire Institution.

Speaking during the last day of the clinic at the Mwenge Catholic University (Mwecau) recently, the leader of the group of eye experts, Dr Marine Avont said the ten-day camp was meant to serve members of the community in Moshi rural.

She said those who were diagnosed with various eyes problems were treated, while those with serious conditions were referred for further ophthalmology services at the Mawenzi Regional Referral Hospital and the KCMC Zonal Referral Hospital for advanced treatments,” she said.

Dr Avont said eye examinations included distance visual acuity, near visual acuity, visual fields, refraction, fundus photography, to mention but a few.

She said each patient was subjected for check up by at least seven different eye experts, a process which she said, ranged between 40 and 45 minutes for each patient.

“Majority of the patient aged between 15 and 90 years of age most of them female and for the younger age many of them were students; the most common diagnoses during the ten-day camp were refractive errors especially for the aged, cataract and long-sightedness,” she added.

The mission which was organised in collaboration with the French based Education for Kilimanjaro.

She said apart from the Education for Kilimanjaro other institutions which supported the camp included Seiko which provide lens to the diagnosed patients, Opal which provide eye medical related spectacles, Vision Institute in Lyon (ISO Lyon) and Trea Pharma, which provided different types of treatment eye drops.

For her part, the coordinator of the clinic Dr Dianarose Massawe said free clinic camps revealed that there were a lot of people who are suffering from eye problems and are in need of treatments.

She said the ten-day eye clinic camps were held at the James Neville Dispensary in Mbokomu area, Mbokumu Secondary School, Kiwalaa Primary School and at Mwecau, within Moshi rural as well as at the Kiboriloni Secondary School within Moshi Municipality.

Dr Massawe, who is the medical officer in charge of the James Neville Dispensary, said further that the government has also been keen in making sure that health services including eye care services are improved, so as to prevent blindness and visual impairment in the community.