Vietnam provides free eye surgery for 200 disadvantaged Laotians

The Vietnam National Institute of Ophthalmology (VNIO) will provide free eye surgeries to 200 disadvantaged people in Kham Keut, Vieng Thong, Pakadinh districts in Bolikhamsai province, Laos between April 18 and 27.

This is the first time VNIO will perform surgeries in its mobile surgery car in Laos. All the costs for the surgery and medicine, worth a total of US$20,000, are funded by the Action For Blind People (AFBP) group.

This is part of the Vietnamese Government’s commitment to help Laos with its blindness prevention programme toward eyesight target by 2020. From now to 2020, Vietnamese eye doctors and medical professionals will help Laos train doctors, transfer new technologies, upgrade ophthalmologic equipment and provide free eye surgeries.

There are more than 56,200 blind people out of the 5.8 million people in Laos and 5,000 more people go blind each year. Around 28,500 of those are blind because of eye cataracts. Laos only has about 15 eye doctors, mainly in Vientiane and the bigger cities, who bring light to nearly 5,000 people each year.