The National Health Security Office (NHSO) is looking to treat 60,000 people in the next three years, in effect eliminating stubborn waiting lists.

NHSO chief Dr Sa-nguan Nitayarumphong said a team effort between his office and the Royal College of Ophthalmologists, the Public Health Ministry and various private charities would soon take to the road to prevent blindness.

"Each year, there are about 20,000 new cases of this degenerative disease, most of them among the elderly and up to 74 per cent lose their eyesight without proper treatment," he said.

Usually, there are about 60,000 people across the country waiting for operations to remove cataracts, because of limitations caused by an unequal distribution of

medical resources around the country.

Under this new scheme, the management of medical resources comes together as one, and patients will either be taken to medical institutions or a mobile service will travel to them, Sa-nguan said.

As the vast majority of patients will probably be registered with the Bt30 healthcare scheme, the cost of treatment will be covered by the NHSO, he said. The office has set aside Bt90 million as an initial budget for the programme.

Provincial Rotary clubs and charity foundations have also contributed to the budget, and almost 1,000 state hospitals will act as front-line defence in screening patients and preparing them for surgery.

Ophthalmologists will be gathered together in mobile surgical teams, said Dr Khunying Thaivadi Dulayajinda, who is in charge of developing the service.

The programme is one of the offensives in the NHSO's target to reduce the number of patients suffering from chronic diseases, a significant burden for the country's healthcare system.

The programme will not just be limited to people with cataracts, but also those with other eyesight problems.

"To invest in preventing blindness is worth a lot more than simply treating the first symptoms of impending blindness," Thaivadi said.

Arthit Khwankhom

The Nation