Avoidable Blindness Conference

The Rotary Club of Kota Kinabalu is organizing the Third Rotary District 3310 Avoidable Blindness Conference on Saturday, 22nd November 2008 at Sabah Trade Centre, Likas Square, Kota Kinabalu.

Entrance is free and open to all. Ten eye specialists, five from Hospital Queen Elizabeth, four from private hospitals in Kota Kinabalu and one from Philippines (representing the International Agency for Prevention of Blindness) are delivering talks on various eye diseases and prevention of blindness. Free Eye Examination has been organized for the first 100 registrants by the Ophthalmology Department, Hospital Queen Elizabeth. An information booklet prepared by Ophthalmology Department, Hospital Queen Elizabeth on various eye diseases would be distributed to all attending the conference.

Below is a summary of the programme:

0800—Registration

0900—Welcoming Address by Chairman of Organizing Committee, Past President Wong Kee Yu, JP, Rotary Club of Kota Kinabalu

0915—Address by Guest of Honour, Yang Berbahagia Dr Enoch Tan (Deputy Director of Health Services, State of Sabah, Malaysia)

1000—Ophthalmic Session I:

Eye Infections; Eye Injuries; Refraction & Role of LASIK Surgery

1115—Ophtahlmic Session II:

Cataract; Diabetic Retinopathy; Age-Related Macular Degeneration; Glaucoma; Avoidable Blindness in Children

1230—Lunch Break

1400—Session on Initiatives in Avoidable Blindness:

Preventable Blindness—Scenario in Sabah; Lion's International Initiatives; Rotary District 3300 Initiatives; Vision 2020 Joint IAPB— WHO global initiatives; Rotary District 3310 Initiatives

1600—Closing Session & Refreshments

(Free eye examination for first 100 registrants will start at 10am at the foyer)

I have some people in my office who have trouble spotting spelling errors in a single A4 sheet despite being given 10 minutes to find the said errors. I shall be trying to get this people to attend the above conference. Hopefully, the conference can be of some help to them, but I doubt it very much.

As for the rest of you, I would encourage all of you to come. With so many eye specialists delivering numerous papers on avoidable blindness, I'm sure you will gain a lot from this conference.