For parents with cross-eyed children, the Center for Medical Care (Puspelkes) for Children Eyes now is opened in the Universitas Hasanuddin Hospital. Unhas Rector Prof. Dr. Dwia Aries Tina Pulubuhu, MA hopes that the facilities in the Unhas Hospital are able to utilize optimally by the whole of the society, especially people of Eastern Indonesia.
“Seeing the provided facilities, we are the best. Therefore, the services must be utilized well,” hoped Dwia during her visit to the Puspelkes, last week.
According to the coordinator of the Puspelkes Children Eyes dr. Marliyanti N. Akib, Sp.M(K), M.Kes, Puspelkes that handles precisely cases of children eyes in Indonesia is only Unhas Hospital and Cicendo Eye Hospital Bandung. But in comparison, it is feasible to conclude of Unhas’s superiority.
The advantages of the medical care in Unhas Hospital is both the child and disability friendly concept embraced, which is services that are friendly to children and those with disabilities, establishing an environment of comfort,” explained Marliyanti.
The condition of the services that are friendly can be felt firmly in the hospital. Puspelkes does not even feel like a hospital. “This is not a hospital, its similarities tend to lean more towards being a playground,” stated a visitor. Besides the provision of facilities for children eye care, each room is also equipped with playing facilities and toys, with colorful and cartoon filled walls.
The Puspelkes added Marliyanti, consists of four essential services, they are: (1) Doctor consultancy for the sub-specialization of children’s eyes, (2) Issues of children’s eyes refraction (optometrist), (3) Cross-Eyed services (orthoptic), (4) Low-Vision of rehabilitation of eye services for disabilities. “The healing processes consist of therapeutic methods, counseling, and teachings. Depending on the variety of disease a patient suffers,” stated the coordinator of the Puspelkes.
The provision of the Puspelkes of children’s eyes is financed by the ORBIS International, which according to Marliyanti, is based on the spark of cases (approximately 20%) of eye-crossed children have led to blindness as a slow or lack of facilities are present in the hospital. But the leading case of blindness can be prevented if the case is detected soon and treated in a relatively small amount of time. Based on the eye specialist’s experience, the most common eye issue faced is the problem of eye retraction (the need of glasses), cataract, red eyes, glaucoma, and retinopathy prematuritus on premature babies.
Unhas Rector hopes that the newly established facility in the Unhas Hospital may decrease the number of blind individuals for children, and act as the center of medical care with substantial human resources through the provision of medicine and the use of modern technologies. (Human Unhas)
