Center for prevention of infant blindness opens in Yerevan

YEREVAN, September 22. / ARKA /. The Center for the Prevention of Infant Blindness has opened today in the Armenian capital city with the support of the health ministry, USAID, AECP, the National Institute for Reproductive Health, Perinatology, Obstetrics and Gynecology and the Malayan Ophthalmologic Center.  The opening ceremony took place in the framework of the 13th International Forum of Oculists.

Deputy health minister Vahan Poghosyan said the Centre will use innovative technology and modern equipment to improve the quality of care for newborns. He added that all employees of the Center have been adequately retrained. He said also that about 10% of infants in Armenia are born prematurely, increasing the risk of blindness. 

Poghosyan said that the Center is one of the best examples of cooperation between doctors from Armenia and the Diaspora, as the project has united doctors from around the world. 

Thomas Lee, head of the Ophthalmologic Center at Children's Hospital in Los Angeles, USA, said the centre is unique, and even clinics in the United States can not boast of such center.

He said the center is connected to the Internet, and experts from different countries can monitor operations online mode and give advice. 

"Such equipment can be found usually in ophthalmic hospitals, however, newborns often can not be transported to such hospitals, and that is why it is very good that the center is located next to the maternity hospital in Yerevan," he said. -0-