KUCHING, Feb 21: The Lions Club of Kuching Metro in collaboration with Ministry of Health’s Cataract Clinic will be organising a cataracts and pterygium screening camp in Betong.
A total of 216 patients are registered for the screening to be held from Feb 3 to 6, the club said in a statement.
The event which will be held for the 13th time will have 98 cataracts patients and 33 pterygium patients.
The Lions Club of Kuching Metro observed that there are about 70 cataracts patients and 16 pterygium patients who will be scheduled for operations this time round.
Meanwhile, the club pointed out that Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas had sponsored a total of 648 Intraocular Lenses (IOLs) for 642 patients up to August last year.
It also said that for the first time, Uggah had sponsored operation costs for 15 pterygium patients.
While the operation cost for one cataract patient was maintained at RM500, operation cost for one pterygium patient was RM200 as one vial of fibrin glue, used to patch up the wound could cost RM1,000 and could be shared among five individual patients.
In addition, the club noted that Uggah had also agreed to sponsor 70 IOLs for 70 patients and 16 pterygium patients at the 13th Betong Cataracts Camp.
According to the club, there were 33 cataracts patients and eight pterygium patients who successfully underwent their operations today.
It noted that there would be another 35 cataracts patients and eight pterygium patients who will be undergoing operation tomorrow.
The club observed that the number of cataracts and pterygium patients who came for preliminary screening had increased, due to more awareness of the programme being shared on social media.
They also disclosed that the majority of the population who came forward for the screenings were Iban and Malay, with a minority of patients who came forward from the last few cataracts camps being Chinese. —DayakDaily
