The Dominican Republic, with a population of almost ten million people, should carry out 30,000 cataract operations a year to reduce the incidence of curable and preventable blindness, but at the moment only 12,000 take place, well below World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations.
According to WHO, cataracts are the main cause of reversible blindness and account for 33% of visual disability sufferers in the country and the world.
Dr. Juan Francisco Batlle Pichardo, president of the National Committee for the Prevention of Blindness, said that loss of vision and visual impairment affects 223 million people throughout the world, and in the Dominican Republic 33,000 people are blind in both eyes, 80% of them due to curable and preventable causes.
Dr. Batlle Pichardo is one of the main organizers of a workshop to develop the National Plan for the Eradication of Preventable and Curable Blindness, to be held from June 3 to June 5 in Santo Domingo, with the support of the Ministry of Public Health and Social Welfare, Alcon Dominicana, Allergan, ARS Futuro, Centro Laser and Dr. Elias Santana, together with other national and international organizations.
Talking about the cost benefit relationship for the country in the elimination of blindness, Batlle Pichardo said that one ounce of prevention delivers pounds of benefits, citing a recent study by the Fred Hollows Foundation that found that preventing loss of vision and ophthalmic problems produced positive results 2:1 times better than the investment, with developed countries spending US$128.2 billion 2011 to 2020 with an estimated benefit of US$517.1.
The majority of people who lose their vision for preventable and curable reasons in developing countries like the Dominican Republic are women.
Batlle Pichardo believes that if the problem is solved there will be major advantages for the Dominican economy, such as an increase in productivity, and savings for families that no longer have to look after blind relatives, plus a significant decrease in health service expenditure.
www.eldia.com.do/nacionales/2013/5/15/114227/En-RDexisten-33-mil-personas-ciegas-el-80-por-causas-curables-o