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Vietnam Vision Project Restore Sight
By mivision
August 1, 2008
By mivision
August 1, 2008
Vietnam Vision Project Restore Sight
Australian optometrist Dr William Trinh has joined a medical team of 40, which is currently visiting isolated c
The team includes phthalmologists
Dr Trinh, from the predominantly Vietnamese suburb of Cabramatta in Sydney, told the media that
restoring sight to the poor who live in rural Vietnam and Cambodia was the sole focus of the Australian medical team.
The Vietnam Vision project is in its fifth year of trips to the country, and this year added Phnomh Penh in Cambodia to its itinerary.
"What's unique about our project is that we go to rural areas where the people can't afford surgery, because there is no free health care in Vietnam, even in public hospitals. We also provide eye care similar to Australia, where we enjoy a good standard of care with very little complications," said Dr Trinh.
He said the doctors, from across Australia, will operate on 500 patients with cataracts as well as train local doctors.
"The difficulty for us is having to reject a lot of patients who aren't appropriate - maybe they're blind from different causes," said Dr Trinh.
"The majority of people we see are women and the elderly, but we also see people who have eye injuries from working on farms without protection."