Ba Ria-Vung Tau strives to prevent blindness

Representatives of the Brien Holden Foundation presented funding to Ba Ria-Vung Tau Eye Hospital. (Photo: Tue Lam)

On October 10, Ba Ria-Vung Tau Provincial Eye Hospital organized a rally to respond to World Sight Day 2024 and announced the project "Prevention of visual impairment and blindness in rural, disadvantaged, and street children" sponsored by the Brien Holden Organization (Australia).

According to Deputy Director of the Department of Health of Ba Ria - Vung Tau province Tran Ngoc Trieu, in recent years, the Provincial Eye Hospital has continuously increased its human resources, facilities, and equipment to improve professional quality, meeting the increasing demand for medical examination and treatment of the people. The hospital has closely coordinated with localities, units in the industry and related units to strengthen human resource training, build a network for blindness prevention and control from the provincial level to the grassroots level, and maintain effective and sustainable operations.

The hospital has sought support from non -governmental organizations, individuals, and philanthropists to mobilize more resources for the work of preventing and combating blindness. In particular, over the past 10 years, the hospital has organized vision screening and refraction examinations for more than 200,000 students; donated more than 15,000 pairs of glasses to disadvantaged children with refractive errors from the effective support of the Brien Holden Vision Institute - Australia (now the Brien Holden Foundation), Nam Con Son Gas Pipeline Company and a number of other units and philanthropists.

The hospital has successfully implemented the model of "Comprehensive community eye care to reduce the rate of vision loss and prevent blindness in the province", providing free medical examinations, screening, and surgery for more than 50,000 elderly people, supporting charity meals for tens of thousands of patients coming for surgery at the hospital, bringing light and health to hundreds of thousands of patients. Thereby, actively contributing to the work of hunger eradication, poverty reduction, and social security, making Ba Ria-Vung Tau a bright spot in the work of preventing and combating blindness in the country.

On this occasion, the Hospital announced the Decision of the People's Committee of Ba Ria-Vung Tau province on approving the project "Prevention of visual impairment and blindness in children in rural areas, disadvantaged areas, and street children in Ba Ria-Vung Tau province" sponsored by the Brien Holden Foundation - Australia with a total cost of more than 1.7 billion VND.

  In 2023, the Provincial People's Committee approved the Hospital to receive and implement the "Project to improve the capacity of refractive error care in Ba Ria-Vung Tau" sponsored by Fred Hollows Foundation - Australia, with a budget of nearly 3.3 billion VND.

  From these two projects, many students, school health workers, street children and hundreds of optical service providers have benefited to provide more effective eye care to the people.

From funding from non-governmental organizations and businesses, the Eye Hospital provides eye examination and care for the elderly, and screening and refraction for more than 1,600 students at Tan Lam Secondary School (Xuyen Moc district) and Tran Nguyen Han Secondary School (Long Dien district).

At the rally, the Eye Hospital presented glasses to 184 poor students with refractive errors discovered during recent examinations./.

Source: https://dangcongsan.vn/y-te/ba-ria-vung-tau-no-luc-thuc-hien-cong-tac-phong-chong-mu-loa-680303.html