Pacific eye care under the lens

Transcript

The first female ophthamologist in Solomon Islands says a new eye clinic there has allowed for 300 percent more patients to be treated every day.

Nola Pikacha and other women eye health professionals from across the Pacific have been in New Zealand with the Fred Hollows Foundation to discuss gender diversity in their field.

Mary Baines spoke to some of them about the projects they're running across the region.

Dr Pikacha is one of three ophthamologists working at the Regional Eye Centre in Honiara, which opened in July.

The 3.2 million US dollar facility, funded by New Zealand's aid programme, was designed and built by the Fred Hollows Foundation in collaboration with the country's health ministry.

Dr Pikacha says they can treat 150 people a day, up from about 50 on a busy day at the old clinic.

NOLA PIKACHA: "We have surgical services, mostly cataracts, outpatient services, refractive services and diabetic eye screening and treatment. Since we have moved into the new clinic we have increased our patient load by about 300 percent from what we're used to."

In the Pacific, four out of five people who are blind don't need to be - their condition is preventable or treatable.

The director of the Pacific Eye Institute in Fiji, Biu Sikivou, says while treatable cataracts are the main cause of blindness in the region, the number of people affected by diabetic eye disease is growing.

BIU SIKIVOU: "The prevalence of diabetes in the Pacific is just beyond our imagination right now, yeah. It is reaching epidemic proportions. So we are training nurses and technicians to be able to screen for diabetic retinopathy in the community and also we are training our doctors to be able to deliver the services that is needed for those that need treatment."

Dr Sikivou says the majority of the Pacific Eye Institute's graduates are women.

She says many females who want to be doctors might choose to study ophthalmology because the hours of the job allow them to still spend time with their families.

BIU SIKIVOU: "I chose ophthalmology because of my young family at the time, so I could spend more time with them. In ophthalmology you hardly get called at night to deal with cases."

Rabebe Tekeraoi graduated from the Pacific Eye Institute last year, and is now the first and only permanent eye doctor in the country.

In the past, people in Kiribati have relied on teams of opthalmologists visiting from other countries for eye care.

Dr Tekeraoi says she is working with two eye nurses to develop an clinic for the people on the main atoll of Tarawa, which has a population of almost 30,000.

She says she has started doing some minor procedures, but needs more equipment.

REBEBE TEKERAOI: "The clinic is quite really empty to start off with. But we try to slowly fill it up with equipment expected for diabetes eye care, other equipment for catarac surgeries. And we have about 90 percent avoidable (blindness), which is cataract and refractive errors."

Cataract surgery usually takes just 20 minutes and can cost as little as 15 US dollars.

This is Mary Baines.