KZN Health MEC Celebrates World Sight Day at UKZN

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KwaZulu-Natal Health MEC, Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo, congratulated UKZN’s Discipline of Optometry for the successful launch of its SEE BETTER…READ BETTER…PASS BETTER campaign on World Sight Day 2014.

The event was the culmination of a week-long programme which included first-year flash mobs, organised by Optometry students for the University community on the Westville campus. During the event staff, students and members of the public received free eye screening and information on the many ways to avoid blindness.

In line with the preventative approach to blindness which has been adopted by the optometry profession globally, the theme for World Sight Week was: “No more avoidable blindness”. (Up to 80 percent of blindness is said to be avoidable).

UKZN’s new campaign saw the first student beneficiary, Mr Celankosini Sibiya, receive his first-ever pair of spectacles which will enable him to see better, study better and pass better during his studies at UKZN. The first-year Optometry student was one of many UKZN students whose parents could not afford to pay for eye-care.

Sibiya said the burden of always having to struggle for a front-row seat in the lecture hall had been lifted. Dhlomo said Sibiya’s testimony reflected the heart-warming success still to be achieved by the SEE BETTER…READ BETTER…PASS BETTER campaign.

Dhlomo said he was very proud of the Optometry Discipline’s initiative, commending them for servicing KwaZulu-Natal’s under-resourced communities. He said he was a huge advocate for preventative healthcare and that blindness seriously hampered those affected. Therefore, in line with the Vision 2020 mission, it was paramount to eliminate avoidable blindness across the country.

The Discipline culminated their week-long activities with staff and student volunteers conducting vision screening among a community of 300 people in eGamalethu near Howick. 

UKZN’s Head of Optometry, Ms Vanessa Moodley said it was alarming that despite the numerous healthcare developments on the continent since the turn of the century most people in Africa had never had a visual and eye health examination.

The Discipline also welcomed news about prescription rights for optometrists in the management of certain ocular disease conditions.  ‘It has taken us many years, fighting an enormous battle for optometry in South Africa to finally have the scope expanded so that people do not unnecessarily go blind from conditions such as glaucoma or diabetic retinopathy because there are just not enough ophthalmologists within the public sector to cope with the needs.’   

Moodley said the expanded scope, now approved by the HPCSA, allowed optometrists an opportunity to make a significant difference in reducing avoidable blindness.

Understanding that universities have an obligation to be socially responsive to the communities they are mandated to serve, UKZN’s Optometry Discipline launched the SEE BETTER…READ BETTER…PASS BETTER campaign. The launch, made possible by its corporate partner Essilor.

Through donations and support from private practitioners and non-governmental organisations students will be given spectacles and rigid contact lenses.

Moodley said: ‘As a UKZN graduate you do not leave trained to only treat a pair of eyes, but rather to holistically engage with communities and other health professionals in the ultimate best interest of the bearer of that pair of eyes – thus getting rid of the tunnel vision approach to optometry.’

* The Discipline of Optometry invites staff, students and the general public to its Eye Clinic which offers a Comprehensive Vision Assessment in both General and Specialist Clinics at Block E5, Westville campus. For further information contact Ms Priscilla Sewambar on phone 031-260 7294 or sewambarp@ukzn.ac.za.

Lunga Memela