VietNamNet Bridge – Director of the Viet Nam National Institute of Ophthalmology Do Nhu Hon spoke with Tap chi Doi song va Khoa hoc (Life and Science magazine) about plans to reduce blindness in the country.
The percentage of blindness remains high despite the ophthalmology sector’s efforts in providing care for communities. Please elaborate about the situation of blindness in the country?
According to a survey conducted in 2007, Viet Nam had about 380,000 blind people and 1,671 people living with poor vision. The main causes of blindness were cataracts (66.1 per cent) and post-segment pathologies of the eyeball (10.4 per cent). Blindness rates were reduced from 0.63 per cent in 2002 to 0.43 per cent in 2007.
However, blindness caused by serious refraction errors such as short-sightedness, far-sightedness and other sight defects remains a burning issue. There are between 2 and 3 million people suffering from refraction errors nationwide.
What is your assessment of the ability of eye care staff in the country, especially those working at grassroots clinics?
This is a big issue. The whole country has merely 1,188 ophthalmologists, 1,516 ophthalmologic nurses and 15,000 health staff members at villages. Their qualifications remain low. Most eye staff are working in the delta, in big cities and provinces. There is a severe shortage of these staff in underprivileged communes and districts. It is in these localities where blindness prevention is still facing a lot of difficulties. There are only 225 ophthalmologists in districts nationwide. Of this number, only 47.5 per cent have received training to provide initial health care services.
There is a backlog of patients at the Viet Nam National Institute of Ophthalmology. How can you explain this situation?
This is a common issue at central-level hospitals nationwide. The reasons are varied. They include an increase in the number of new, complicated diseases and people contracting eye diseases due to an ageing population, disbelief in the qualifications of ophthalmologists at communes and districts, freer transportation and improved living standards. All of the reasons above are causing an overload in the number of patients at the institute.
What measures must be enacted for sufficient eye care staff to meet the increasing demand for eye care?
The Viet Nam National Institute of Ophthalmology has helped the Ministry of Health put forward a Viet Nam blindness prevention strategy during 2009-13, with a vision to 2020.
Under the strategy, priority will be given to reducing cataracts, controlling blinding trachoma and xerophthalmia and reducing Vitamin A deficiencies.
To this end, it is necessary to train eye care staff at all levels and build up eye care centres nationwide. Viet Nam has set a target to have enough ophthalmologists at district levels by 2015.
As the nation’s leading eye hospital, what is the role of the Viet Nam National Institute of Ophthalmology in training eye care staff?
The institute will continue providing eye care techniques to hospitals and clinics, helping cities and provinces implement blindness prevention activities in their localities.
It will also train eye care staff and develop new eye care techniques. The institute has been implementing a project designated to improve eye care quality. Facts have shown that an increasing number of patients are now receiving better eye care services.
VietNamNet/Viet Nam News
