Vision Now back on track

A team of Cuban medical experts arrived in the state this week in relation to the Vision Now Programme and the General Modern Diagnostic Centre Project at Georgetown.

Among the team that arrived on Wednesday, March 5 was an optometrist who came to hold clinics for persons on the Vision Now Programme who require spectacles.{{more}}

Earlier, when the Vision Now Programme started it was indicated to some patients who had traveled to Cuba that they would require glasses. The same suggestion was also given to persons who had been selected to travel to Cuba for corrective surgery.

“I want to make it plain that what is going to happen, this optometrist is going to hold the clinics, the ministry will announce where. they will do the measurement for the glasses, the length, the type of glasses, all the technical work which an optometrist would do,” said Dr.Gonsalves, adding that the measurements will be sent to Venezuela where the spectacles will be made and sent to St.Vincent and the Grenadines.

Prime Minister Gonsalves reiterated that the spectacles will only be for persons on the Vision Now Programme, either those who have gone and required spectacles or those who have been assessed already in St.Vincent and the Grenadines and require spectacles.

“You can just have somebody now lose their glasses and just walk off the street and say ‘I want a spectacles’. We may see whether we can extend spectacles further but the project is within the four walls of the Vision Now Programme,” said the Prime Minister.

With regard to the building of the General Modern Diagnostic Centre Project, three experts arrived in the state under the General Cooperation Agreement with the Cuban Government. The team comprised a Nephrologist, an expert who deals with kidney problems, and two Architects.

The Nephrologist came to assess the extent of the problems which people have with kidney failure and the demand for dialysis and how many dialysis machines will be needed with all the various ancillary equipment and facilities. That expert will also spend time in the state with the Architects to provide input of an informed nature to begin to design the facility.