Eye clinic opens in Belize City

Today the eye care centre located next to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital was officially opened. Joan Musa, Director of the Belize Council for the Visually Impaired, says that it’s all part of an effort to rid the country of blindness.

Joan Musa, Director, B.C.V.I.

“We’re celebrating today the official opening the eye clinic. We’re calling it the National Ophthalmic Unit, and it’s part of B.C.V.I. We will be opening everyday, Monday through Friday with eye tests. We provide glasses, we have examinations by an opthamologist, that’s an eye doctor, and we’ll be giving appointments for further surgery and sometimes it would be medical treatment. We have available laser treatment, surgical treatment for cataracts, and for glaucoma.”

Jose Sanchez

“What makes today’s event extra special?”

Joan Musa

“We also have with us Dr. Juan Carlos Silva. He was here especially today to sign the declaration, a global declaration vision 2020 which is giving people worldwide, the right to sight.”

Dr. Juan Carlos Silva, PAHO Advisor

“The declaration is a group of organisations including the World Health Organisation, national governments, philantrophic organizations, joining in an effort to prevent and avoid blindness. In the world, eighty percent of blindness is curable or preventable. And through the services provision, making services available, accessible, affordable, and with good quality, you reduce eighty percent of preventable blindness. The main cause of blindness is cataract and glaucoma is the second cause of blindness. Signing the declaration means joining the group of countries willing to fight blindness.”

Silva says that Belize is one of the first countries in Latin America to sign the declaration. As for the new clinic, its tastefully designed interior is as pleasing to the eye as any care you may receive there.