PerthNorg

New Eye Centre in Bali up and running

“Today is the fifth anniversary of the

Bali terrorist attack and World Sight Day, and it’s an appropriate time to remember the lives that were lost,” said Lions Eye Institute managing director Professor

Ian Constable.

“It’s also a good time to reflect on the great achievement Australians have made with the Eye Centre, and the difference they’re making in eye health in our region.”

The Centre grew out of the terrorist attack on

Bali on October 12, 2002, in which 202 people (including 88 Australians and 38 Indonesians) died.

Elizabeth Zambotti, director of nursing at the Lions Eye Institute in Nedlands, has played a key role in the Centre’s development.

She says West Australians can take great pride in the Centre.

“The Bali bombings highlighted the need for improvement to

Bali’s health system and that international assistance was needed to make this happen,” Mrs Zambotti said.

More than $9 million has gone into the Centre, and Ms Zambotti has played a crucial role in the Centre’s design and construction. Some of the initial design meetings were held at the Lions Eye Institute.

“The Centre has state-of-the-art biomedical equipment, and the clinical areas including the operating theatres, ward and clinic have all been designed and built to meet Australian standards,” she said.

Mrs Zambotti commissioned the facility and its equipment when it opened last week. In the first two days 160 Indonesian patients were seen and a dozen cataract operations were performed by Indonesian ophthalmologists.

“They work in state-of-the-art operating theatres with equipment that’s been funded by Australians,” Mrs Zambotti said.

“Patients are screened by general practitioners: optometrists handle some of the referrals, while ophthalmologists treat the more serious cases.”

Professor Constable says more than 30 Indonesian doctors and nurses have been trained at LEI, enabling them to return to their country with higher skills.

Indonesian ophthalmologist Dr Made Argus spent several months at LEI learning about the latest laser surgery for glaucoma, and is now working at the Centre.

“For 30 years senior LEI staff and other WA ophthalmologists have travelled to

Indonesia at their own expense to provide training and impart the latest surgical techniques and treatment,” Professor Constable says.

“In this way we’ve helped build a critical mass of skilled Indonesian ophthalmologists so they can tackle the backlog of millions of existing and new cases of curable blindness.

“Because of its proximity to south-east Asia, LEI strongly believes it has a humanitarian responsibility to use its technical expertise to do something about the huge rate of blindness in

Indonesia."

LEI ophthalmologists and other staff will continue to train Indonesian health care staff at the Centre.

The Centre is owned and managed by the Bali Provincial Department of Health and operated in partnership with the John Fawcett Foundation and its Indonesian arm, the Yayasan Kemanusiaan

Indonesia.