Mobile surgery unit an eye-opener

NST: KENINGAU: A new mobile surgery unit has enabled eye doctors to travel to remote hospitals to treat patients.
Standard Chartered Bank Malaysia, through their "Seeing is Believing" project, contributed RM190,000 to purchase the equipment, which has been in use since last September.
The bank's chief executive officer, Shayne Nelson, said 26 eye camps would be conducted every year, with two volunteer doctors at each eye camp to perform 10 operations.
"The target is to help 200 to 260 Malaysians regain their eyesight each year," said Nelson.
Since the launch of the project, Standard Chartered has raised RM380,000, of which RM160,000 was channelled to the Malaysian Medical Association Foundation Eye Fund for the purchase of lenses over three years.
The 1996 National Eye Survey showed the people in Sabah had the most number of eye-related problems in Malaysia.
Ninety-year-old Misah Dugol was one of the patients selected for a cataract surgery.
"I'm a bit scared but I think I will feel a lot better after the surgery," she said before she was wheeled in for the operation.