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Cataract surgical blitzes: an Australian anachronism
Author(s) -
Taylor Hugh R,
Henderson Tim R M,
Le Mesurier Richard T
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
medical journal of australia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1326-5377
pISSN - 0025-729X
DOI - 10.5694/mja14.00994
Subject(s) - anachronism , medicine , optometry , surgery , general surgery , political science , law , politics
Surgical blitzes to treat eye disease are often used to redress shortfalls in service provision. In developing countries with scarce human and financial resources, such periodic visits from local or overseas health teams may be justified, as they are generally combined with building local capacity. However, Australia has no such resource constraints. Despite this, surgical blitzes occur year after year in some rural and remote locations in Australia, without concurrent development of sustainable local services. We see this as a particular problem for eye health in Indigenous people.