Materia Medica Malaysiana

1,200 Benefit From Free Cataract Operations In Sarawak

SIBU, Nov 28 (Bernama) -- More than 1,200 people in Sarawak have benefited from free cataract operations sponsored by the Sarawak Society for the Blind.
The service, introduced in 1990, complimented the efforts of the government, said Deputy Minister of Housing and Local Government Datuk Robert Lau Hoi Chew.
He said the society had also screened more than 11,000 people in the state's central region for glaucoma, an eye disease that can cause partial or complete loss of vision.
Opening the society's Sibu Division branch annual open house cum food fair today, Lau advised people not to treat their local centre for the blind as another old folk home.
He said such centres were established to provide temporary accommodation for the blind and help them acquire skills to earn a decent living on their own.
Upon the successful completion of their training, their relatives should take them back and help them to adjust to living among normal people, he said.
The food fair's organising chairman, Clarence Ting Ing Horh, said RM124,000 was collected from the sale of coupons.