Achievements

In 2001 the most common reason given by Jiangxi Province hospitals for low cataract surgery rates was that there were no cataract patients in their counties. Following the effort that has been put into village screening and training village doctors through the program, most hospitals now believe there are more patients who need cataract operations.

Doctors are continually developing their surgical skills through the China-Australia Cataract Surgery Training Cooperation Program and the focus is on getting patients to hospitals for operations.

A further and equally important component of the program has been the maintenance of
a strong partnership with the Provincial Bureau of Health (PBOH) in Jiangxi Province. Numerous meetings with PBOH representatives have resulted in The Foundation’s program staff being able to have some influence on policies related to the coordination of eye care units within the province's district level hospitals.

The China-Australia Cataract Surgery Training Cooperation Program has had many successes since the pilot program began in 1998:

• 9,220 cataract operations have been delivered during surgical training and at eye clinics. Approximately 14,420 cataract operations have been performed at county hospitals by surgeons who were trained by The Foundation
• 57 county and prefecture level hospitals have participated in the program
• 73 surgeons have been trained and can perform modern cataract surgery
• 56 ophthalmic nurses, 33 ward nurses and 56 administrators have been trained in the management of pre and post-operative care, operating theatre procedures, maintenance of equipment and management of patient tracking systems
• More than 2,000 village doctors from eight counties have been trained and equipped to screen cataract patients and to make referrals to county hospitals for treatment (around 725 of those doctors were from Gaoan, 540 from Xingguo and 225 from Poyang)
• The cost of surgery to patients in some Jiangxi county level hospitals has dropped from approximately US$207 to as low as US$65
• Just under 900 eye clinics have been held in the rural areas of the Jiangxi Province to help address the cataract blindness backlog
• 64 village doctor training courses have been conducted in eight counties of Jiangxi Province
• The Foundation has supplied county level hospitals in the Jiangxi Province with 57 microscopes, three YAG lasers, 200 Ophthalmoscopes, 10 A-Scans, 224 cataract surgery sets and 15,356 intraocular lenses

The China-Australia Cataract Surgery Training Cooperation Program achieved the following in 2006: 

• US$62,368 worth of ophthalmic equipment and consumables was donated to participating hospitals
• Five operation assistants, five ward nurses and five administrators from county hospitals received clinical training
• 142 village health volunteers received training in primary eye care to help ensure that patients in villages are properly identified, screened and referred to the relevant level of the health system for treatment
• 1,185 cataract operations were performed by surgeons who have been trained and equipped by the program
• 11 eye clinics were conducted in seven counties
• Eight surgeons received training in small incision sutureless cataract surgery techniques