LETTER | The Malaysian Society of Ophthalmology (MSO) recently organised a press conference and a mock cheque presentation ceremony to commemorate the occasion of World Sight Day 2022.
Celebrated annually on the second Thursday of October (which falls on Oct 13 this year), World Sight Day (WSD) is an international day of awareness, focusing the world’s attention on the importance of eye care. This year’s theme, “Love Your Eyes” encourages individuals to prioritise their own eye health whilst advocating for accessible, affordable and available eye care worldwide.
During the event, MSO president Dr Manoharan Shunmugam gave a brief background history of the formation of the society. Initially established as a society within the Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) as the MMA Ophthalmological Society, MSO gained independent status in April 2008.
The society (www.mso.org.my) continues to carry the flag for the profession of ophthalmology in Malaysia by actively promoting continuous medical education, encouraging Continuous Professional Development, and by facilitating the professional exchange of information among its members.
Another aim of the society is to improve eye and visual health in the community by conducting educational, charitable and other projects. The society has engaged with and become a member of various initiatives and groups to achieve these aims.
For World Sight Day 2022, MSO prepared a joint statement with the Malaysian Health Coalition (www.myhealthcoalition.org) to call attention to a few key points in order to integrate vision care into holistic public health.
The four key points are:
1. Implement routine annual eye screening among at-risk populations. The increasing incidence of myopia or short-sightedness amongst our children is a cause for concern, as there are long-term complications of myopia which can severely impact their vision and quality of life in adulthood. We call for compulsory annual eye screening to be carried out for all school-age children. Similarly, individuals aged 40 years and above should also receive annual eye screening, particularly those afflicted with diabetes and hypertension.
2. Eliminate dubious and misleading advertisements for eye products. The proliferation of social media advertisements marketing dubious products that are not based on scientific evidence has led to many users being cheated of their money. Worse, some of these patients have stopped their conventional medicines without consulting their eye doctors, leading to the worsening of their existing ocular conditions, and even blindness. We urge the authorities to take firm action against these perpetrators, while we continue to educate the public on the dangers of these dubious health products.
3. Practise strict adherence to workplace eye safety. Serious and blinding ocular injuries at the workplace are often entirely preventable by the wearing of personal protective equipment. We urge the relevant authorities to enforce safer working environments for all workers. Office workers facing long hours in front of computer screens or their gadgets are encouraged to practise the “20-20-20” rule (looking away from the devices after 20 minutes of use to look at an object at least 20 feet away for 20 seconds) to prevent digital eye strain.
4. Strictly regulate and enforce consumer fireworks. Increased ocular injuries due to fireworks are common especially during festive seasons, both locally and internationally. While there are already legislations made to declare these fireworks illegal, we call on stricter law enforcement to reduce accidents and deaths caused by fireworks.
After the president’s opening address, we had associate professor Dr Tengku Ain Fathlun Tengku Kamalden on behalf of the Asia-Pacific Ophthalmic Trauma Society (APOTS), echoing the sentiments of the MSO president on the issue of creating greater awareness to promote the prevention of ocular injuries.
She shared that APOTS together with the Department of Ophthalmology, Universiti Malaya, had recently co-organised the 11th Conjoint Ophthalmology Scientific Conference (COSC) –APOTS Ophthalmic Trauma Meeting 2022 to achieve the aim of promoting prevention and better management of eye injuries in our region.
Next up, we had the honorary general secretary of the MAA, Dr Thirunavukarasu Rajoo, who gave a brief but succinct speech on MMA’s support for initiatives by MSO and other medical societies that are beneficial towards improving the health of the Malaysians.
The highlight of the event was handing over a donation of RM10,000 to the Pan Disability Football Club Malaysia, which is coaching the Malaysian National Blind Football Team. Sunny Shalesh is currently coaching the team for the 9th International Blind Sports Federation (IBSA)/Asia Blind Football Championship 2022 scheduled to be held in Kerala, India from Nov 9–21, 2022. This tournament also serves as a qualifier event for the World Blind Football Championship in Birmingham in 2023 – the World Cup of Blind Football.
Sunny then gave a speech thanking MSO for the contribution, which will help fund their participation in the championship. He also highlighted the fact that despite the team being recognised as the national blind football team and winning medals at the past two Asean Para Games, funding was hard to come by.
One of the ways they have tried to raise funds was the making of a film entitled, “Eye On The Ball”, chronicling the trials and tribulations of the team as they strived for sporting glory.
Unfortunately, the release of the film was scuttled due to the nationwide lockdown in March 2020 because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Sunny added that while the team might seem to be aiming for sporting achievements, the actual goal was to help rehabilitate these special youth to come to terms with their visual disability.
The players had led seemingly normal lives just like any sighted individuals, until they started losing their sight, either due to disease or injury. The “beautiful game” is now helping them to get back on their feet, increasing their purpose and confidence.
At the end of the ceremony, Dr Teh Wee Min (honorary secretary of MSO and emcee of the day) reminded everyone to take part in the TikTok video competition organised by the MSO in conjunction with WSD 2022 (visit www.mso.org.my for more details).
A series of posters will also be released via our social media platform (MSO Facebook).
The event was attended by Dr Hajjah Fariza Ngah (head of Ophthalmology Services, Health Ministry), associate professor Dr Norshamsiah Md Din (on behalf of the chairperson of the Malaysian Universities Conjoint Committee of Ophthalmology), three team members of the national blind football team and their spouses, MSO committee members, and members of the press.
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