On World Sight Day, Eye Center opens

Health Secretary Enrique Ona FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines–The Department of Health (DOH) on Thursday marked World Sight Day by inaugurating the Eye Center of the Quirino Memorial Medical Center (QCMC) in Quezon City, a tertiary referral hospital that will provide comprehensive eye care services.

The QCMC Eye Center is part of the integrated service delivery network of government health facilities serving Quezon City, Marikina, Calabarzon and other nearby areas.

World Sight Day focuses global attention on blindness, visual impairment and rehabilitation of the visually impaired.

“On World Sight Day, the DOH reaffirms its commitment to enhancing the capacity of government hospitals in treating eye problems by modernizing health facilities with the latest and state-of-the-art equipment,” said Health Secretary Enrique Ona in a statement.

In the Philippines, the current estimated number of persons who are bilaterally blind is 303,136, based on the 2014 National Statistics Office (NSO) population estimate. Of this number, 59 percent is due to cataract, while others are due to uncorrected refractive errors, glaucoma, retinopathy and maculopathy.

World Sight Day is observed in many countries around the world and serves as a platform in promoting the Global Action Plan on the “Prevention of Avoidable Blindness and Visual Impairment 2014-2019” and “Vision 2020: The Right to Sight,” the global effort to eliminate avoidable blindness launched by the World Health Organization and the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness.

This year’s theme, “Universal Eye Health,” with the global call to action “No More Avoidable Blindness,” underscores the challenge to sustain efforts in eliminating avoidable and preventable blindness from eye diseases such as cataract, diabetic retinopathy and uncorrected refractive errors.