PRIVATE eye specialists in Sarawak have fixed their consultation fee at RM30 to make it affordable for diabetic patients to have their eyes checked yearly.
Sarawak Society for the Blind (SSB) Prevention of Blindness Sub-Committee chairman Dr Dennis Kong said the discounted fee, introduced under the Sarawak Diabetic Eyes Screening Programme, excluded treatment costs.
He said the society started the programme recently in collaboration with the Society of Private Medical Practitioners to create awareness among diabetic pa-tients on the importance of annual eye checks in preventing blindness.
“About 55% of the country’s diabetic patients have never had an eye examination,” he said.
“To be entitled to the discount at private clinics, patients have to see their family doctors who will refer them to eye specialists in Kuching, Sibu, Bintulu and Miri,” he told a press conference in Kuching yesterday. Dr Kong said a survey in 2006 showed that the prevalence of diabetes mellitus in Malaysia was on the rise.
“Prevalence of the disease in those more than 30 years in age was 6.3% in 1986, 8.3% in 1996 and 14.9% in 2006,” he said.
However, early detection and treatment and a healthy lifestyle could prevent loss of vision.
Meanwhile, SSB president Datuk Dr Hsiung Kwo Yeun urged the blind and those with impaired vision to register with the society so that they would be entitled to state welfare benefits.
To date, about 3,000 people have registered with SSB. Earlier, SSB donated a personal computer and printer to the Sarawak General Hospital Eye Clinic.
It will be used by ophthalmologists at the clinic to send statistical reports regularly to the National Eye Data Centre (NED) in Kuala Lumpur for research and study.
The reports involve diabetic eye diseases, refractive error in children and incidences of glaucoma, cataract and other eye diseases in Sarawak which will be entered into the NED database.
Sarawak Society for the Blind (SSB) Prevention of Blindness Sub-Committee chairman Dr Dennis Kong said the discounted fee, introduced under the Sarawak Diabetic Eyes Screening Programme, excluded treatment costs.
He said the society started the programme recently in collaboration with the Society of Private Medical Practitioners to create awareness among diabetic pa-tients on the importance of annual eye checks in preventing blindness.
“About 55% of the country’s diabetic patients have never had an eye examination,” he said.
“To be entitled to the discount at private clinics, patients have to see their family doctors who will refer them to eye specialists in Kuching, Sibu, Bintulu and Miri,” he told a press conference in Kuching yesterday. Dr Kong said a survey in 2006 showed that the prevalence of diabetes mellitus in Malaysia was on the rise.
“Prevalence of the disease in those more than 30 years in age was 6.3% in 1986, 8.3% in 1996 and 14.9% in 2006,” he said.
However, early detection and treatment and a healthy lifestyle could prevent loss of vision.
Meanwhile, SSB president Datuk Dr Hsiung Kwo Yeun urged the blind and those with impaired vision to register with the society so that they would be entitled to state welfare benefits.
To date, about 3,000 people have registered with SSB. Earlier, SSB donated a personal computer and printer to the Sarawak General Hospital Eye Clinic.
It will be used by ophthalmologists at the clinic to send statistical reports regularly to the National Eye Data Centre (NED) in Kuala Lumpur for research and study.
The reports involve diabetic eye diseases, refractive error in children and incidences of glaucoma, cataract and other eye diseases in Sarawak which will be entered into the NED database.
