Health Ministry to Review Screening of Patients Under Jamaica-Cuba Eye Care Programme

Health Ministry to Review Screening of Patients Under Jamaica/Cuba Eye
Care Programme
KINGSTON(JIS)
Thursday, June 22, 2006

The Ministry of Health is to review the protocol for screening patients
before they travel to Cuba for eye surgeries under the Jamaica/Cuba Eye
Care Programme.

This is part of the plan of action agreed to by the eight-member
delegation, which was in Cuba from June 15 to 18, to visit the
ophthalmology centres, where Jamaican patients are undergoing treatment.
The visit followed reports that some patients were experiencing
complications as a result of the surgeries.

Chief Medical Officer in the Ministry, Dr. Barry Wint, who was a member
of the delegation, told JIS News that one of the main objectives of the
review, was to ensure that there was a closer working relationship
between the Cuban and Jamaican ophthalmologists.

"We intend to make it a two level screening rather than a one level
screening, so that the first level screening will be done like it is
now, where it is as close to the patients as possible in terms of out
there in the districts, but the second level screening will be done as
part of a more intense screening in the eye clinics," he expounded.

Consultant Ophthalmologist, Dr. Gordon Robotham, who also travelled to
Cuba, said he was in full support of the Ministry's decision to
reorganise the screening process. "The Minister and his team have been
genuinely interested in improving the situation," he pointed out.

Currently, two Cuban doctors along with a nurse practitioner visit some
20 centres across the island to screen patients. These centres include
police stations, hospitals and health centres.

According to Dr. Robotham, this type of screening is only preliminary
and patients with more serious eye problems should undergo more intense
tests before they were sent to Cuba.

"I have suggested that they [Cuban doctors] select from the patients
that they see at those centres, who they think are good candidates for
surgery and send them to tertiary centres such as KPH (Kingston Public
Hospital), Mandeville and Cornwall Regional hospitals before going to
Cuba," he told JIS News.

This process, he said, would enable Jamaica to have records on the
patients prior to their departure, in addition to determining their
suitability for surgery. "We will know what their condition is and if
they have any medical problems at that point. We, at the hospitals, will
be able to refer them to other areas to control co-morbid and other
medical conditions, which might interfere with the prognosis of their
operations," Dr. Robotham explained.

He also noted that the screening centres were not appropriate for
following up post-operative patients. "If we implement the suggestion,
then the screening process will be improved as well as the post
operative management of the patients," he reasoned.

In the meantime, Dr. Robotham told JIS News that he was very impressed
with the facilities in Cuba where Jamaicans received treatment. These
are the University Hospital in Cienfuegos and the Cuban Institute of
Ophthalmology, Ramón Pando Ferrer, which the team toured.

He however, expressed the desire for Jamaican authorities to be
consulted if there were plans to move the patients to other centres. In
fact, he said, medical personnel from Jamaica should get a chance to see
the facility and talk to medical staff before any transfers took place.

"My approval is for what I have seen and I cannot extend it to what I
have not seen," he pointed out.
During the period September to December, 2005 some 1,708 patients were
treated in Cuba for cataract and pterigium conditions.

http://www.jis.gov.jm/health/html/20060621T120000-0500_9170_JIS_HEALTH_MINISTRY_TO_REVIEW_SCREENING_OF_PATIENTS_UNDER_JAMAICA_CUBA_EYE_CARE_PROGRAMME.asp