Chinese medical team sets sights on 500 eye surgeries
Published:Saturday | March 30, 2019 | 12:15 AMPaul Clarke/Gleaner Writer
Jamaicans suffering from cataracts now have an opportunity to benefit from the expertise of an 11-member Chinese technical team, which arrived on the island on Wednesday. The team will perform approximately 500 cataract surgeries on Jamaicans in need as part of their Bright Journey Eye Care Mission.
The team, which will work from the Kingston Public Hospital (KPH) until the end of April, comprises five ophthalmologists, three nurses, two engineers, and one technician.
“We welcome the Chinese team to Jamaica. They have seen a need and agreed to help us to fill that need. This particular area of eye care, as I have said before, is an undeserved area in Jamaica, and so we are very happy to have the support,” said Health Minister Dr Christopher Tufton.
He told The Gleaner that the Government is developing an eye care policy to help advancing service levels in this area.
“This Chinese mission is an important initiative, and, of course, we endorse it as partnerships are important,” Tufton said.
This is Bright Journey’s second visit to Jamaica. In May 2015, more than 200 Jamaicans benefited from free cataract surgeries at the KPH while the hospital was gifted medical equipment and supplies to the tune of US$400,000.
The KPH will receive additional equipment and supplies valued at approximately $53 million.
GOODWILL GIFT
Knowledge exchange is also said to be a key part of the work of the mission.
Chinese Ambassador Tian Qi said that the people and Government of China were happy to provide the assistance.
“The Bright Journey Eye Care Mission is a gift of goodwill from the people and government of China to the people and Government of Jamaica. It will not only brighten the Jamaican patients’ eyesight, but also make the China-Jamaica partnership for common development even brighter,” he said.
The Chinese Government has been sending medical teams to developing countries since 1963. In the Caribbean, the Bright Journey Project is part of a commitment made by Chinese President Xi Jinping to expand public health cooperation with Caribbean countries during his meeting with CARICOM leaders in Trinidad and Tobago in June 2013.
In 2015, it was reported that from 2003, China’s Bright Journey project had benefited close to 300 million eye patients in more than 70 countries in Asia, Africa, Europe, Latin America, the Caribbean, and Oceania.