One of the villagers undergoing a slit lamp examination for his eyes on board the mobile clinic.
KUCHING: It was literally a ‘sightseeing’ event for the Lundu folk who took the opportunity to have their eyes checked during an event organised by the Health Ministry, in collaboration with Sarawak Society for the Blind and National Council for the Blind recently.
The programme – held ‘in observance’ of this year’s World Sight Day and was themed ‘No More Avoidable Blindness’ – saw optometrists from public and private eyecare providers across the state capital converging on Lundu Hospital and offer their service to villagers, aged from 18 to 39. According to a press statement from the society, the locals underwent series of tests including visual acuity and slit lamp examinations, refraction, fundus photography, tonometry, A-scan and keratometry.
“A mobile clinic bus complete with eye-checking equipment was specially despatched to Lundu by the ministry.
“From the tests, 13 villagers here been referred to eye surgeons – some of whom are suspected of suffering from cataracts, pterygium (a type of benign grown on the conjunctiva), glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy (retinal damage),” it said.