Luanda - Sixty-five thousand 434 patients with eye problems were treated from January to September this year by the Ophthalmological Institute of Angola (IONA), the director general of the institution, Luísa Paiva, said on Wednesday, adding that these figures are high and worrying.
Speaking to ANGOP, on the occasion of World Sight Day, which is celebrated today, she said that during the previous year (2022), around 68,238 patients were treated.
The ophthalmology specialist said that 5,928 surgeries were performed, of which 51 percent were cataract interventions.
Luísa Paiva highlighted the fact that IONA is the only public institution in the country that performs retinal surgeries, and in this specialty, 81 people were operated, 20 more than in the first half of 2022.
As for pathologies, she specified that the most diagnostic at IONA are cataracts, diseases of the cornea and conjunctiva, eyelids, ametropia and glaucoma.
She pointed out high blood pressure and diabetes as the main diseases that cause the most changes to the ocular system, even leading to blindness.
According to the doctor, the institute has been betting on increasing technological capacity and staff, allowing the reduction of the waiting list of patients to be operated on, from almost two years to four months. EVC/ART/TED/DOJ
