An eye doctor working in the Pacific says a purpose built eye clinic in Fiji will increase the clinic's capacity to care for more patients and offer training.
The Director of the Fiji based Pacific Eye Institute, Dr John Szetu, says with over eight million people in the Pacific region, so many struggle with eyesight problems, or battle blindness on a daily basis, more often due to diabetes.
He says at the moment there just aren't enough eye specialists, but this new clinic can help improve this.
Dr Szetu says he's grateful for the support of the Australian and New Zealand governments, as well Fiji's Ministry of Health and School of Medicine, in getting the eye clinic up to par.
"PAC EYE TP"
Now we have excellent facilities. We have ample space in terms of consultation clinics, a reflection clinic, and the surgical facilities as well. And this will increase the centre's capacity to handle more patients with a lot of training [of] people on the ground. 22
Dr John Szetu says the clinic has taken roughly seven months to build at a cost of 1-point-5 million US dollars, and is due to open on Nov 30.
