Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) and Inje University Busan Paik Hospital concluded a month-long online capacity building training programme on Thursday.

The training programme targeted 23 government ophthalmologists under KOICA-GoB project ‘Eye Health Promotion and Prevention of Blindness in Bangladesh’ with budget US$ 8,450,000.

The event was held at Bangladesh Korea Friendship Hospital (BKFH) in Savar in presence of Young Ah-Doh, Country Director, KOICA Bangladesh Office and Prof Dr Md Abdul Quader, Project Director and Professor of Cornea, National Institute of Ophthalmology (NIO) and experts from the Republic of Korea.

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KOICA’s Country Director hoped that the training helped to strengthen the knowledge and surgical skills of the ophthalmologists in Bangladesh and contributed to the provision of medical services in the ophthalmology clinics in accordance with international standards.

KOICA said it is committed to continue its cooperation with Bangladesh to further boost the nation’s eye health related treatment and services.

Avoidable blindness is one of the major public health problems in Bangladesh.

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In terms of statistics, about 5 million people, including children, suffer from refractive errors, about 2.8% of the population aged 35 years and above suffer from glaucoma and 25% of diabetic patients suffer from diabetic retinopathy, according to KOICA.

The government of Bangladesh is a signatory of the Vision 2020 (V2020, Right to Sight) initiative of IAPB and WHO and committed to achieve the goal of eliminating avoidable blindness by 2020.

KOICA has initiated the mentioned project in collaboration with Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) and National Institute of Ophthalmology (NIO) under Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW).

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The main objectives are to, establish an eye care unit at BKFH, contribute to capacity building of eye health personnel, establish vision centers at Savar and Dhamrai Upazila Health Complex (UHC) and Dhaka Export Promotion Zone Hospital (EPZ), promote eye health in target communities and support to develop a new National Eye Care (NEC) Plan.