Beira Central Hospital (HCB), in the central Mozambican province of Sofala, intends to operate this year on 1,060 patients diagnosed with glaucoma, a disease that affects sight and can cause blindness.
The information was revealed by ophthalmologist Argentino Almeida in the context of activities to mark the passage of World Glaucoma Week, under the slogan “The World is Wonderful, Save Your Vision.”
“Many times we may think that glaucoma doesn’t exist, because many people don’t do the regular screening since there are no symptoms. But due to the improvement in ophthalmology services, the number of cases detected in health units has been increasing”, Almeida said, cited by the Maputo daily “Notícias.”
According to Almeida, last year 602 cases of glaucoma were detected and “HCB has specialized services for the treatment of this disease, and has been treating, besides patients from Sofala, others from Tete, Zambézia and Manica provinces.”
He also explained that people under the age of 40 should be screened every two years for the disease.
“But that doesn’t mean that we don’t receive patients from other age groups; and the numbers are worrying, because we receive a monthly average of 10 to 15 people with this disease”, he said.
For his part, the programme coordinator for the disability NGO, Light for the World, Nunes Sampaio, said that his institution has supported HCB in training professionals in techniques for diagnosing the disease, “supplying specific equipment for the treatment of glaucoma, and in providing medicines. We will continue to train them, since there are still few professionals in the area of ophthalmology.”
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), glaucoma can occur at any age but is more common in older adults. It is one of the leading causes of blindness for people over the age of 60.
AIM
