The US-based Himalayan Cataract Project is this year set to establish a state –of the –art eye center in Rwanda estimated to cost at least $6 million.
According to Prof. Geoffrey Tabin, the co-director of the Himalayan Cataract Project in an interview with the African Press Agency, the Rwanda Institute of Ophthalmology center will be the first so-called Ophthalmology Centre of Excellence in sub Saharan Africa.
“It will be absolutely state of the art, with an eye bank, offering top quality cornea and cataract surgery. It will help prevent blindness and help regain sight for the partially blind in Rwanda,” Tabin added.
He noted that there is currently no functioning eye bank in sub-Saharan Africa and observed that once this center was established, it will be the first offering in-depth quality eye care on the continent.
According to Tabin, Rwanda’s population of the totally blind has reached a staggering 50, 000 with fears that it could be even more in view of the absence of a specialist eye care centers in the country.
Tabin, who is also the man behind the donation of the ten cornea extracts implanted in the eyes of some of the visibly impaired Rwandans free of charge, for the past one week, said that it was difficult to ship the items from the USA to Rwanda.
According to him “one cornea costs $3,000 which is quite expensive but once the center starts operating in Rwanda, there would be no need to import cornea from the USA”.
The professor added that funding for the center was already in place but pointed out that they are looking for an appropriate location from where to operate and reach out to the visibly impaired population.
Dr. John Nkurikiye, an ophthalmologist at both the King Faisal Hospital and the Rwanda Military Hospital, pointed out that the center would improve eye care and reduce risks of blindness in the country.
According to him, there are about 50,000 Rwandans who are blind in both eyes but claimed their conditions could be cured through surgery.
The Himalayan Cataract Project of the United States, the Fred Hollows Foundation in Australia and the Mowlsdale Foundation of Scotland will provide funding to operate the center.
Source African Press Agency
African News from NetNewsPublisher.com
How People Arrived Here:
- dr john nkurikiye, eye hospital ruanda, eye specialist rwanda, himalayan cataract project (usa) fred hollows foundation mowlsdale foundation
