Liberia seeks help to improve eye care facilities

Liberia today sought help from a city-based hospital for setting up world-class eye care facilities in the West African nation.
President of Liberia Ellen Johnson Sirleaf launched an initiative in collaboration with the L V Prasad Eye Institute (LVPEI) for developing eye care system in her country.
Speaking on the occasion, Sirleaf said, "Liberia was a very poor country and required help for setting up modern eye care facilities."
For this purpose, she wanted LVPEI to establish an institute in Liberia which can help in building a comprehensive eye care system.
The visiting President lauded the works being carried out by LVPEI, set up in 1987, in Andhra Pradesh.

Presenting an overview of Liberia's healthcare system, Sirleaf said after the end of civil war they are rebuilding the entire medicare system as a lot of medical professionals had left the country.

The rate of blindness in Liberia is 0.5 per cent up to 50 years of age and 3.85 per cent above 50, she said.
V N Rao, Chairman of LVPEI, speaking about the works undertaken by the institute, said over the last 27 years, they had touched the lives of 17 million people and more than 50 per cent of them were treated for eye surgeries free of cost.

Responding to Sirleaf's call, he said LVPEI is thinking of developing an eye care delivery model, which will include 25 to 30 primary centres, in Monrovia, the capital of Liberia.