Sabah's mobile eye clinic to start in December - General - New Straits Times

New Straits Times KOTA KINABALU: The 1Malaysia mobile eye clinic will commence operations in Sabah in December, where a bus will bring a team with equipment from district to district to accommodate rural folk.
Deputy Health Minister Datuk Rosnah Abdul Rashid Shirlin said the bus will go to designated hospitals and stay there for two weeks, where their focus is more on conducting cataract operations.
"There will be a schedule, the bus with a team that includes medical officers and eye specialists will start first at Sipitang and end in Tambunan.
"Now, we are fine-tuning details before the launch at year-end.
"As for Peninsular Malaysia, we have not decided (the dates) but we probably will kick-off the service simultaneously there," she said after launching the inaugural flight of the Flying Doctor Service (2012-2016) under Sabah Air Aviation Sdn Bhd's new contract.
Rosnah said cataract had been identified as the most common eye-related problem in the country.
On the Flying Doctor Service (FDS), she said the Health Ministry, through the state Health Department, had covered about 25,000 population over 11 districts through this initiative last year.
There are currently two FDS teams, with the Kota Kinabalu team serving 34 villages and Sandakan team covering 29 villages on a regular monthly schedule.
"However, we expect the number to benefit from this service to increase to 70,000 population this year," Rosnah said, following an expected increase in the number of villagers and villages involved.
She said this initiative not only served as a mobile clinic providing basic primary medical care, but also Medical Emergency Evacuation (Medevac) service for people in the remote areas.
Sabah Air Aviation chairman Datuk Yusoff Mohd Kasim said the Kota Kinabalu and Sandakan teams would be provided with a helicopter each, which had been upgraded to Twin Engine operation in accordance with the standard requirements.
The four-year contract, effective April 1, this year, involved a cost of over RM18 million, he added.