Patients, eye doctors in Seychelles to benefit from extension of South Korean partnership

In February 2016, the South Korean ophthalmology team operated on some 60 patients at the Seychelles’ hospital during a three-day Eye Camp surgery session. (Patrick Joubert, Seychelles News Agency)

(Seychelles News Agency) - Seychelles and a South Korean ophthalmology firm have prolonged their partnership, meaning more patients and local specialists will benefit from treatment and training.

The memorandum of understanding was signed by Danny Louange, the chief executive of the Seychelles’ Health Care Agency, and Jong Wook Kim, the chief executive of BriefEye World. The ceremony took place at the Seychelles Hospital, Mont Fleuri, last Thursday.

BriefEye World is a private firm specialising in ophthalmology -- eye and vision care --from South Korea.

“This agreement is not only about providing health services to our patients. It goes further than this because [BriefEye World is] willing to share [its] experiences and skills with us,” said Louange in a press release from the agency.

Doctors, nurses and technicians working at the Eye Clinic of the agency will receive further training both locally and internationally from South Korean experts in the field.

Cooperation between Seychelles’ Ministry of Health and BriefEye World exists since 2014 when the agreement was first signed.

“It is a pleasure to be able to renew our work with Brief Eye World and Korea,” said Louange.

He commended the success of the previous agreement and expressed his enthusiasm for future endeavours.

“We have benefitted with the treatment of many of our patients, many of which, because of the small size of our country, are our relatives, friends and neighbours,” said Louange.

In February last year, the South Korean ophthalmology team operated on some 60 patients at the Seychelles’ hospital during a three-day Eye Camp surgery session.

During that same period, another memorandum of understanding was signed between the agency and the BriefEye World which covers three eye camps annually. Training and transfer of ophthalmology skills to Seychellois doctors are also covered under the agreement.

Cataract is one of the leading vision related problem in Seychelles and is attributed to the increasing ageing population of the country. According to a statement made by the Ministry of Health earlier this year, around 250 new cataract cases are diagnosed every year in Seychelles.