BY TANIA LAM & NOOR SYAHHIRA HADY
KUCHING: To date, Sarawak Eye Services have screened more than 20,000 patients in the state’s rural areas, State Health Department (JKNS) director Dr Chin Zin Hing revealed.
He added that about 7,000 of these patients had successfully undergone operations, including cataract and pterygium operations.
“This is truly an amazing achievement by the Sarawak Eye Services. If the patients cannot reach out to receive help, these unsung heroes of ophthalmology will extend their services to them,” he said when officiating at the World Sight Day 2020 celebration at SMA-Tegas Digital Innovation Hub here today.
According to him, for Sarawak, the pioneer Health Ministry Cataract Clinic (KKKKM) Mobile Sarawak Eye Services was launched in Kuching in Sept 2013. It was formerly known as the One Malaysia Cataract Clinic.
He said that the objective of this outreach service was to perform mass comprehensive eye screening in a rural setting — not only for cataracts but also for diabetic retinopathy, refractive error, and glaucoma — in order to detect and prevent blindness.
He added that this service covered a wide area from Lundu all the way to Lawas, with thousands having benefitted from this free eye screening.
“On top of that, the team also performs cataract operations in district hospitals. For those who require cataract surgery, only a nominal fee is charged to the patient. For those who cannot afford to pay for the lenses, charity-supported intraocular lenses are offered to them.”
He said that KKKKM, an initiative by the National Ophthalmology Service of the Health Ministry, had changed things for the better for Sarawak’s rural folk as years prior, people with cataracts living in rural villages and longhouses were likely to go blind due to their undetected eye condition or them being unable to afford to travel to urban areas to seek proper eye treatment.
“Apart from the KKKKM mobile service, it is also worth mentioning that the people of Lundu, Serian, Simunjan, Sri Aman, Betong, Lawas and Limbang also receive regular outreach visits by eye specialists from Sarawak General Hospital (SGH) and Miri Hospital.”
He assured that JKNS would continue to intensify its efforts to encourage and support the Sarawak Eye Services in its endeavour to combat preventable blindness for the people of Sarawak.
Meanwhile, ophthalmologist Dr Chieng Lee Ling said that Sarawak is one of the regions with the most difficulty for rural folk to access hospitals for eyecare services.
He said that the KKKKM programme consists of mobile, static and transit modes. Static mode refers to operations being carried out at centres rather than hospitals, while mobile mode involves the use of a bus to transport all the required instruments from the hospital to rural areas to conduct operations.
He added that transit mode is used for areas in the northern zone of Sarawak which are difficult to reach via bus.
“So we gather our equipment and take a flight to areas like Lawas and Limbang to do cataract surgery there,” he told reporters at the event.
According to Dr Chieng, there are five centres in Sarawak which conduct cataract surgery, namely SGH here as well as clinics in Sarikei, Sibu, Bintulu and Miri.
However, he said that regular visits are conducted in areas such as Bau, Serian, Sri Aman, Betong and Saratok either once a month or once in every two months for surgery or follow-up treatments on out-patients.
