Eye Care Nurses and Doctors will next week participate in the Annual National Eye Conference in Honiara which is expected to bring together more than 40 eye care workers from the provinces and the regional eye centre as well as a handful of provincial non-communicable diseases coordinators.
The four day conference provides a platform for all eye care workers in Solomon Islands to share updates from respective provinces, discuss challenges and possible solutions.
The gathering aims to improve professional expertise on common causes of avoidable blindness conditions faced nationally, and it is also an avenue where eye care workers can build and refresh clinical skills and plan for the year ahead.
Head of the Regional Eye Centre, Dr Carole Poloso highlighted the theme for the event and the importance of eye care, especially for children.
“This year’s conference will also commemorate World Sight Day on 10th October with the theme “Love your (childs) Eyes” , thus the annual event will also carry the same theme.
World Sight Day is coordinated by the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness ( IAPB) and is celebrated annually on the second Thursday of October, which falls on Thursday the 10th of October 2024.
“World Sight Day highlights the critical importance of prioritizing child eye health, and to give children everywhere the opportunity to love their eyes. It is a call to action asking parents, caregivers and schools to prioritize child eye health.
“In the lead up to the National eye conference and the World Sight Day, staff at the Regional Eye Centre have been carrying out Vision screening at selected schools within Honiara.
“On the last day of the annual conference, participants will do more vision screening at selected school,” said Dr Poloso.
Meanwhile the Head of the Regional Eye Centre, explained that there will be some changes to services at the Regional Eye Centre, and steps are being taken to ensure eye care services is still available.
“Over the course of four days from the 7th to the 10th of October, an Eye Care Nurse will be rostered each day to the clinic during working hours to make patient bookings and receive patient queries.
All emergency eye cases will be attended by the First On-call Eye doctor through either the Emergency Department at the National Referral Hospital or by the on-call nurse from the Eye Clinic. Eye care services should resume as per normal on the 11th of October,”said Dr Poloso.
