Illustrative image (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – A policy advocacy seminardiscussing employment for refraction ophthalmology bachelors took place inHanoi on August 21.
The event attracted leaders of municipal and provincialhealth departments, eye hospitals from Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Can Tho, PhuTho and Ha Dong, educational establishments and international organisations inthe field.
Tran Viet Hung, deputy head of the Health Ministry’s PersonnelOrganisation Department, said Vietnam now records about 2 million blind andvisually-impaired people. Over 80 percent of blind cases could be prevented ortreated.
Currently, short-sighted, long-sighted and astigmatism cases arebecoming popular, amounting to 15 – 40 percent of the population, or about 14-36 million patients. For children aged 6 – 15, the rate of refraction cases is 25– 40 percent in urban areas and 10 – 15 percent in rural areas.
The International Agency forthe Prevention of Blindness recommended that there should be a refractionservices provider per 50,000 people. However, there are only 39 standardservice providers in Vietnam.
Since 2012, the Hanoi MedicalUniversity and the Pham Ngoc Thach University of Medicine have offeredrefraction ophthalmology courses with the first contingent of bachelorsgraduating in October last year. About 300 students are studying in the twouniversities.
Participants at the event sharedmodels for eye treatment, measures to effectively tap the role of refraction ophthalmologybachelors in order to highlight the need to build regulations on job titles forthem.-VNA
The event attracted leaders of municipal and provincialhealth departments, eye hospitals from Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Can Tho, PhuTho and Ha Dong, educational establishments and international organisations inthe field.
Tran Viet Hung, deputy head of the Health Ministry’s PersonnelOrganisation Department, said Vietnam now records about 2 million blind andvisually-impaired people. Over 80 percent of blind cases could be prevented ortreated.
Currently, short-sighted, long-sighted and astigmatism cases arebecoming popular, amounting to 15 – 40 percent of the population, or about 14-36 million patients. For children aged 6 – 15, the rate of refraction cases is 25– 40 percent in urban areas and 10 – 15 percent in rural areas.
The International Agency forthe Prevention of Blindness recommended that there should be a refractionservices provider per 50,000 people. However, there are only 39 standardservice providers in Vietnam.
Since 2012, the Hanoi MedicalUniversity and the Pham Ngoc Thach University of Medicine have offeredrefraction ophthalmology courses with the first contingent of bachelorsgraduating in October last year. About 300 students are studying in the twouniversities.
Participants at the event sharedmodels for eye treatment, measures to effectively tap the role of refraction ophthalmologybachelors in order to highlight the need to build regulations on job titles forthem.-VNA
VNA
