The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

CHINESE medical professionals will perform cataract surgery on “some 200” Bahamians later this year, Health Minister Dr Perry Gomez said during his contribution in the House of Assembly yesterday.

“Beginning in March and continuing through to mid-April, a team of doctors and nurses from China, called the Bright Journey Medical team, will arrive from China to perform cataract surgery on some 200 patients.

“This team will work side by side with a Bahamian team of professionals for the success of this project.

“There is a large number of persons across the Bahamas who are in need of this surgery, some of whom have been waiting for a while. Bright Journey will not only perform surgeries, but they will also be providing much of the necessary equipment and supplies to facilitate their work here,” he said.

Dr Gomez added that the United Arab Emirates has donated 13 tricycle ambulances to the Bahamas.

The ambulances, he noted, would be the first of their kind in the country. They are currently being assembled in Grand Bahama.

Speaking about their distribution, Dr Gomez said: “Four of these will be kept by the Grand Bahama Health Services and used in High Rock, McCleans Town, and Sweetings Cay, Grand Bahama and Grand Cay, Abaco.

The remaining nine, which are expected to be sent to Nassau, will be apportioned by the Department of Public Health for use in other islands and cays.”

He added that the government has agreed to obtain an additional six ambulances through the National Insurance Board to facilitate the Public Health Department’s need for ambulances.

Furthermore, Dr Gomez said the US government will donate four portable X-ray machines to the Public Hospitals Authority (PHA) in early March.

The machines, he said, will be used in three hospitals.

He also said that the US government has agreed to provide the first ever digital mammography machine to a Family Island. The machine will be compatible with machines recently obtained for the Princess Margaret and Rand Memorial hospitals, he said.