Cataract surgery and retinal eye injections can now be administered
locally.
This has been made possible after an Eye Team from New Zealand trained
two Niue doctors to administer retinal eye injections.
There are a handful of patients who previously needed to be flown to
Auckland for monthly injections to preserve their sight.
Now that cataract surgery and retinal eye injections can be administered
locally there will be significant future savings for the Health system through
reduced patient time management and travel costs
This year The Eye Team completed 34 cataract
operations using modern equipment recently arrived on-island; monitored
diabetic patients’ eye sight and carried out routine eye checks/surgery for 300
people over two weeks.
All diabetics are advised to have an eye check at least every two years
to identify problems at an early stage otherwise these patients risk losing
their vision completely.
