MEDIA RELEASE
Released By:
Kevin Rudd, Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs, and Murray McCully, New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs
Ophthalmologists, doctors and nurses from around the Pacific will now be able to get eye-care training in a state-of-the-art facility in Fiji.
Jointly funded by the Australian and New Zealand Governments, the newly constructed $2 million Pacific Eye Institute (PEI) buildings in Suva meet an urgent need for an improved training and treatment facility.
Australian Foreign Minister, Kevin Rudd said the old campuses saw over 20,000 patients last year in cramped conditions.
'The new buildings house training rooms for eye-care nurses, doctors and technicians from across the region, along with operating theatres, a laser-treatment room, an optical laboratory, offices and a resource centre.'
New Zealand Foreign Minister, Murray McCully said that up to 80,000 people in the Pacific were blind, and a further 250,000 visually-impaired.
'Making a major improvement to a person's sight is often not especially expensive or difficult if there are qualified health professionals on hand to diagnose and treat people via simple surgical procedures,' Mr McCully said.
'Research suggests that through better access to eye health care and treatment 75 per cent of blindness cases are preventable.'
In 2010, PEI outreach teams undertook 5108 consultations and 1101 surgeries–including 878 cataract removals in Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, PNG, Samoa and Fiji.
This funding is a key component of Fred Hollows New Zealand's $13.5 million Pacific Regional Blindness Prevention Program (PRBPP), which is funded by the Australian and New Zealand Governments in partnership with the Fred Hollows Foundation.
The Australian Government has contributed $9.8 million over three years (2008–09 to 2010–11) to the PRBPP, and the New Zealand Government has contributed $3.7 million.
CANBERRA
29 November 2010
Minister's Office: 02 6277 7500 or 0466 745 615
AusAID: 0417 680 590