Large numbers of people in the Cook Islands are seeking help from a team of eye doctors from New Zealand giving clinics at Rarotonga Hospital.
The coordinator for the team's visit, Pa Taukume, says the hospital had a priority list of 400 patients with eye problems - mostly people with diabetes.
He says while appointments have been made for some new patients, the doctors are already fully booked by the priority patients, so there has been little need to advertise the visit.
The team, which includes two ophthalmologists, two optometrists, a retina specialist, a diabetes nurse specialist and an optometry technician, will be in the Cooks until the end of next week.
The visit is funded by donor aid under a tri-partite arrangement between the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Cook Islands Ministry of Finance and Economic Management, and the Cook Islands Ministry of Health.
