Call for Alice eye clinic
Posted
The manager of a Central Australian eye health program says there is an urgent need for a permanent eye clinic in Alice Springs.
56 people had eye surgery in Alice Springs last week as part of a series of "eye blitzes" in Central Australia.
More than 250 people have had eye surgery since the blitzes, which use specialist staff from interstate, began in January last year.
But Chris Masters from the Central Australian Integrated Eye Health program says waiting lists remain high as visiting specialists are finding increasing numbers of people with eye disease.
"We're finding that as we increase the access level and the amount of surgery we can do, there are more people coming out of communities who are trying to access the specialist team," he said.
"It was then 360 patients waiting for eye surgery and it's now, after we've done five blitzes, we've done 250 operations just in these blitz weeks and we've still got over 300 patients of the list."
