Fred's legacy lives on in Timor Leste
The Fred Hollows Foundation New Zealand and its partners officially opened a National Eye Centre in Dili on Thursday July 28th. The Centre, which will provide high quality eye care and sight restoring surgery to thousands of people suffering from avoidable blindness, is the first of its kind in Timor Leste, a country that is still finding its feet following years of devastating conflict.
“We are very proud to be joining our extremely dedicated local team in Dili for the opening of the first purpose built National Eye Centre in Timor Leste,” says Andrew Bell, International Programmes Director at The Fred Hollows Foundation New Zealand. “The Centre is a major achievement for us given the challenges of working in one of the world’s newest nations.”
The opening was attended by His Excellency the President of the Democratic Republic of Timor Leste, Dr Jose Ramos-Horta and Gabi Hollows, Founding Director of the Fred Hollows Foundation and widow of the late New Zealand born Professor Fred Hollows.
His Excellency sincerely thanked The Foundation for their generosity and commitment to eye health in the region, and Ms. Hollows spoke passionately about Fred and his connection to Timor Leste.
“If Fred was here today he would be very proud,” said Ms. Hollows. “His work lives on through the work of The Foundation and his spirit is here with us today.”
Since April 2010, The Foundation has been operating out of a shipping container converted into a surgical theatre with help from the New Zealand Defence Force. More than 13,000 people in Timor Leste are needlessly blind and despite the difficulties of working in a confined space without a consistent power supply, The Foundation has completed hundreds of sight-restoring surgeries in the container over the last 15 months.
Eye care providers will now be able to reach thousands more people in need through the National Eye Centre which boasts six consultation rooms for eye testing and small procedures, a two-bed surgical theatre and an optical workshop for the dispensing of spectacles. It will also be the base for outreach eye care services, training for eye workers, research and eye health promotion. The Centre will be headed up by Dr Marcelino Correia, Timor Leste’s first ophthalmologist.
“We’re excited about what the Centre will achieve,” says Mandy Whyte, Timor Leste Country Manager for The Fred Hollows Foundation NZ. “The eye sector is well co-coordinated and we’ve all worked so hard to make this happen and know the Centre will be of huge benefit to the local people.”
The Fred Hollows Foundation New Zealand would like to sincerely thank all of their partners who made this possible including the New Zealand Aid Programme, The Fred Hollows Foundation in Australia, the Timor Leste Ministry of Health, Fo Noroman Timor Leste (FNTL) and the East Timor Eye Programme (ETEP).
The Foundation continues to be inspired by the values and achievements of Professor Fred Hollows, a world-renowned eye doctor, humanitarian and social activist. Fred championed the introduction of modern cataract surgery in developing countries using an implanted intraocular lens (IOL) and had the ingenious idea of setting up IOL factories in Eritrea and Nepal. The latter of these achievements reduced the cost of an IOL to just $8USD (from $150USD) making cataract surgery affordable for millions of people living in the developing world. Today, cataract surgery takes just 20 minutes and costs as little as $25. This is Fred's enduring legacy.
