LDS Church donates eye equipment worth $247,000 to Health Ministry

State of the art eye equipment worth $FJ247,000 was donated to the Health Ministry by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints today.

The new equipment will allow specialist eye doctors to look seven layers into the human eye.

This equipment will be used by the Pacific Eye Institute in Suva as well as Lautoka and Labasa hospitals.

Specialist eye doctors were previously trained by the LDS Church on how to use the equipment.

The donation is part of a three year project by the LDS Church as it also plans to engage in an outreach project in the next 2 years where the eye equipment will be taken to interior communities.

While receiving the eye equipment, Health Minister Rosy Akbar says around 25,000 patients are provided with eye care services by the Pacific Eye Institute each year.

She says on a daily basis the Pacific Eye Institute sees around 50 patients at the diabetic eye clinic and around 100 patients are served at the outpatient department.

Akbar also says that sixteen eye surgeries are performed on a daily basis.

The Minister says the age of the patients range from around 13 to 90 years.

The most common eye problems treated at the Pacific Eye Institute are refractive error, cataract and diabetic retinopathy

Akbar has also called on medical staff that will be using the equipment to use it with care and help maintain it.