| Blind adventurer Miles arrives tomorrow
Miles Hilton-Barber, a blind adventurer and aviator, will arrive in Dhaka tomorrow on a three-day goodwill visit to support the fund raising for Standard Chartered Bank's 'Seeing is Believing' programme, says a press release. He will be accompanied by Storm Smith, a highly experienced microlight pilot and instructor. The 'Seeing is Believing' programme aims to raise funds for sight restorations of 10 million blind people in the developing world by 2010. In Bangladesh, the funds collected will go towards cataract operations, training doctors, and building of facilities in partnership with Sightsavers International. On March 7, Miles ventured out on his latest challenge 'Flight for Sight' to become the first blind aviator in history to fly halfway around the world and in doing so he aimed to raise at least one million pounds sterling towards the sight restorations programme.
40 Bacolod patients get free cataract surgery
Negros Occidental (26 March) -- Forty out of the 100 patients who underwent the screening for cataract surgery are ready for cataract surgery. The Cataract Foundation based in Bacolod City conducted the pre-screening with patients from Kabankalan City. Dr. Fortunato Eusebio, a volunteer ophthalmologist of the foundation identified the forty patients scheduled to undergo the surgery March 26, 28 and 30. The surgery will be for free through PhilHealth and non-PhilHealth members will pay P1,500 which will be covered by the city government of Kabankalan. This project is under the City Social Welfare Department and the Federation of the Senior Citizen in the city. Another screening for the upland barangays of Kabankalan is scheduled on April 11. The Cataract Foundation has been conducting this project in many provinces in the country for the past 15 years and so far benefited already 250,000 patients all over the country.
Seeing the game through new eyes
Well, I didn't want to make a big deal about it on the blog, but I went and had laser-eye surgery yesterday. So far, so good. I've been wearing glasses and contacts since junior high, so I felt like the time was right to do it. I just returned from a follow-up with the doctor (about 21 hours after the surgery) and I'm clear to do some work on the computer today. For me, the procedure wasn't quite as painless as others have said. The first couple hours were pretty rough, but I sat on the couch, squinting at the TV, watching The Package as Oakland's Danny Haren blanked the Angels. I watched the Yankees batter Cleveland lefty Jeremy Sowers and watched pieces of Mark Buehrle's no-no. My vision was pretty good by the time King Felix walked off the mound with a stiff elbow. I watched a taped replay this morning of the late innings of the Twins game, and it really seems like they dodged a bullet.
75m will go blind worldwide, minister warns
Dubai: The number of blind persons worldwide will increase to 75 million within a short span of 13 years if immediate action is not taken, the minister of health warned yesterday. The sad part is that a majority of the 35 million blind cases today were preventable and curable, said Minister Humaid Mohammad Obaid Al Qutami, at the opening of the largest opthalmological congress yesterday. The minister was speaking on behalf of Shaikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai and Minister of Fin-ance and Industry, and patron of the Congress. "It is an enormous concern and challenge for all health an medical institutions to minimise this suffering," he said, and called for an upgrade of the level of medical education and training to deal with increasing disabilities in Arab countries.
|
