The multi-million-dollar National Ophthalmology Hospital at Port Mourant, Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne), is once again being placed under the spotlight for still not being in an inoperable state.
According to reports, no cataract surgeries have been conducted for the past three years although the facility has the capacity to conduct some 10,000 surgeries annually.
Region Six Chairman, David Armogan, told INews that those in charge of the hospital are not purchasing the kits necessary to conduct cataract operations and therefore many patients who are in dire need of this service, either have to pay large sums at private institutions for their surgeries or simply go blind.
“All that they are doing is testing the eyes. If they are operating, then it is hardly being done because they are not buying the kits to do surgeries for cataract so they are not able to do what they are supposed to be doing. A lot of the people being affected are poor ones who cannot afford private care,” he stated.
The $140 million facility at Port Mourant was commissioned in July 2009 and was the first specialised Ophthalmology Centre in the Caribbean and Latin America.
In May last, Public Health Minister Volda Laurence had announced that after a hiatus of being inoperable, the facility would have recommenced cataract surgeries. However, the Ophthalmology Centre is yet to provide the crucial treatments and surgeries that it once used prior to the APNU+AFC coalition taking office.
