12,000 Persons to be Screened Under Jamaica/Cuba Eye Care Programme

Minister of Health and Environment, Rudyard Spencer, has informed that under phase two of the Jamaica/Cuba Eye Care Programme, some 12,000 persons will be screened.
“One thousand and sixty-six persons have been screened in St. Thomas and 194 persons have been selected to undergo surgery in Cuba. Four hundred and fifty eight persons from that parish are awaiting surgery,” Mr. Spencer said, as he made his presentation in the 2008/09 Sectoral Debate in the House of Representatives, today (June 3).
Screening under phase two of the programme, which commenced on April 1, 2008, will take place on a parish by parish basis.
The first phase, which was implemented from September 2005 to March 2008, saw 30,440 persons being screened and over 4,594 benefiting from surgery.
“This is a good programme that started under the previous administration and we intend to continue and improve on it,” Mr. Spencer said.
He added that the Ministry has identified a location in St. Mary to establish an Ophthalmology facility to treat persons with eye ailments.
“Specific details of the facility will be discussed at a Jamaica/Cuba Joint Commission that is to be held in Havana from June 8 to 10, 2008,” the Minister informed.
In August 2005, the Governments of the Republic of Cuba, Venezuela and Jamaica, together with Caribbean partners – Dominica, Guyana, St. Lucia and Suriname – signed the historic Bilateral Agreement, ‘Mission Operation’, for their nationals to receive medical attention in the field of ophthalmology in Cuba.