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The team at Caribbean Vitreous and Retina Surgery Ltd (CVRS) and Trinidad Eye Hospital (TEH) have dedicated their lives to restoring sight and repairing vision loss for thousands, and preventing avoidable blindness.

Each year, TEH, with help from majority sponsor CVRS and the support of dedicated sponsors like Eye See You Ophthalmic and Medical Supplies Ltd, hosts two charity initiatives. At these events, The Gift of Sight and Sight Saver charities, a handful of patients from a very long waiting list, are able to get their much-needed eye surgery, free of charge.

Recognising the necessity to meet the needs of those who require these sight-saving surgeries but dont have the means, Dr Ronnie Bhola, CVRS Chief Surgeon and CEO, created the non-profit company Trinidad Eye Hospital. TEH makes free eye surgery a little more accessible in the private health sector, offering hope to vulnerable groups.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has identified cataracts as the cause for 48 per cent of world blindness. As a natural part of aging, almost all of us will develop cataracts (clouding/loss in transparency of the lens) in our eyes.

While cataracts can be surgically removed, in many countries, including Trinidad and Tobago, there are some barriers that prevent patients from accessing the required surgery.

The main issue is often lack of funding for corrective eye surgery. Sometimes, its a matter of an over-burdened public health care system. These factors have led to cataracts being one of the leading causes of avoidable blindness in the world.

The average cost of a cataract surgery is $TT12,000 and many are unable to afford the cost of this procedure.Cataract surgery is one of the most common and perfected surgeries in the world. This 12-15-minute surgery can be life changing, restoring eye-sight, and can even have implications for someones quality of life and even their independence.

As the majority sponsor of Trinidad Eye Hospital, CVRS has championed this cause most passionately and together with their generous sponsor network, over 200 free cataract surgeries have been donesince the launch of the Gift of Sight Program in 2016.

CVRS is urging the public healthcare sector to start conversations about how they can multiply this effort working together in more innovative and creative ways.

In 2019, TEH expanded its initiative and added vitrectomy surgery to the free program. This is a complex, much more expensive surgery that is needed by many persons who have diabetic retinopathy due to diabetes.

Trinidad Eye Hospital through its partnership with the Diabetes Association of Trinidad and Tobago (DATT) has helped to prevent vision loss due to diabetes through a free eye screening program, (DESP).

Massive outreach for screening is currently underway for the month of November which is Diabetes Awareness Month. If you are diabetic, call 607-3288 to find out more about free screening.

For the CVRS and TEH team, preserving eyesight is more than just a profession its a calling.

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CVRS, TEH protect the gift of sight with free eye surgeries | Loop Trinidad & Tobago - Loop News Trinidad and Tobago

This entry was posted on November 21, 2021 at 1:46 am and is filed under Eye Sight & Vision. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed. |