Eye Health Boost in Central Australia

Over 30 years after Fred Hollows led a team of eye health professionals into rural and remote Australia, eyes are again the focus of a concerted effort to ensure outback Australians can access the highest quality eye health care.
 
A consortium involving the Australian and Northern Territory Governments, Indigenous controlled health services, non government organizations and The Fred Hollows Foundation in Australia has come together to improve delivery of eye health services for people in some of the most remote communities in Australia.

The Central Australian Eye Health Program was launched in Alice Springs by the Australian Minister for Health, Mr. Tony Abbott and the Northern Territory Minister for Health, Dr Chris Burns. 

Based at Alice Springs Hospital an Eye Health Program Manager employed by The Fred Hollows Foundation with support from the Federal Government and Northern Territory Governments, will coordinate the consortium. 
 
Plans are already underway for an eye health blitz involving ophthalmologists, nurses and other eye health workers to wipe out a backlog of people waiting for eye surgery in Central Australia. It will also put in place facilities and procedures to ensure all Central Australians can be confident of the highest quality eye care. 
 
The program's reach takes in 1.6million square kilometres of Central Australia - making it, geographically, one of the largest integrated eye health programs in the world. This area includes the top of South Australia, three quarters of The Northern Territory, and into The Central Desert of Western Australia
 
Around 55,000 Indigenous and non Indigenous people live in this area with an identified backlog of 330 people, which we know of, requiring immediate eye surgery.
 
"It is a no nonsense approach, the way the Professor Fred Hollows did things. Practical solutions to health problems in Central Australia," said Brian Doolan, CEO of The Fred Hollows Foundation in Australia.
 
"All the parties have come to the table and are keen to identify and knock over obstacles. There are certainly more difficulties for people in places like Docker River to get access to good eye health services than there are for the residents of Double Bay in Sydney. Those difficulties are exactly what we have come together to overcome".
 
Plans are being put in place to ensure Alice Springs Hospital develops as a centre of eye health excellence.
 
"Eye health services in Central Australia have always been fragile" said Eye Health Program Manager Chris Masters. "The challenge is to build a service which is not only able to offer the highest quality, but one which is sustainable. An important part of our work is to identify a model which can generate sufficient income to ensure we can attract and retain skilled surgeons and eye health specialists".

A Steering Committee has been formed to drive the Central Australian Eye Health Program. The Committee has representatives from the Commonwealth Department of Health and Aging, The Northern Territory Department of Health and Community Services, the Central Australian Aboriginal Congress, Anyinginyi Aboriginal Health Corporation, Alice Springs Hospital and The Fred Hollows Foundation in Australia.

Eye conditions affecting the Central Australian population include refractive error (requiring glasses for correction), cataract (clouding of the lens), trachoma (a bacterial infection that can lead to blindness if untreated) and diabetic retinopathy (damage to the retina, at the back of the eye, caused by diabetes).

Improving the eye sight of people in Central Australia will boost quality of life, strengthen employment and  educational opportunities, and enhance local culture.

Since being formed in 1992 The Fred Hollows Foundation has worked in 38 countries throughout the world, restored sight to over a million people and trained thousands of eye health workers including ophthalmologists.