Returned specialists set up eye centre

NST: KUALA LUMPUR: Seven foreign-trained eye specialists have returned home and set up a high-quality and affordable eye-care centre to serve Malaysians and others in the region.
The International Specialist Eye Centre (Isec) was set up eight months ago and is located at The Boulevard, Mid Valley City here.
The centre's medical director, Dr Wong Jun Shyan, said the centre aimed to be the national and regional centre of excellence for comprehensive and subspecialty ophthalmology.
The state-of-the-art RM10 million eye centre boasts of an eye-bank facility, advanced diagnostics such as Optical Coherent Tomography, Orbscan, abberometry and corneal spectacular microscopy, and new-generation lasers such as Pascal retinal and Technolas iris-tracking technology excimer lasers.
Launching the centre yesterday, Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri Dr Fong Chan Onn said the specialists had returned under the Malaysian experts programme in 2001.
"I am happy that they have returned to serve and share their expertise.
"We want Malaysian specialists to come home and pool their resources and make use of Kuala Lumpur's infrastructure to offer their services to the world," he said.
Although the government hoped to attract thousands of Malaysian professionals home, to date, only about 500 specialists in medicine, ICT and accountancy and finance had responded.
Last year, about 100 returned, mainly from Britain, Singapore, the United States and Australia.
Fong said incentives would be offered to attract those with non-Malaysian spouses and children.
He said the country was also keen to see the return of artistes, such as those with Broadway experience, and fashion designers, to make Malaysia a more vibrant nation.
He was pleased that Isec's facilities were fully compliant with the stringent standards required by the recently-implemented Private Healthcare Facilities Act.
"I am also pleased that Isec had taken the initiative to take part in public-private collaborations, especially in ophthalmic education.
"I am particularly pleased that medical and optometry students from both local and foreign universities are routinely attached to Isec for clinical exposure and teaching."
He lauded Isec's move to seek international accreditation from the world-renowned Joint Commission International, which sets the standard in healthcare facility accreditation.
Isec, as an international referral centre, plays an important role in the national economy as Malaysia is now moving into service or knowledge-based export industry, making health tourism an important revenue earner.
The centre has a technical collaboration agreement with Singapore National Eye Centre and a similar agreement will be signed soon with the Optometry Department, Applied Health Sciences Faculty of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.