Social Affairs Minister Presents Multi-Sector Strategy to Handle Blindness in Indonesia

MAKASSAR (28 October 2023) -- Social Affairs Minister Tri Rismaharini appreciated the collaboration with the Association of Indonesian Eye Specialists (Perdami) in dealing with blindness in Indonesia. This multi-sector strategy aims to reduce the occurrence of handicap issues while increasing community productivity.

This was stated when the Minister spoke at the 2023 World Sight Day event, which took place on 28 October 2023, at the Claro Hotel Makassar.

The Minister was invited to be a speaker at the 2023 World Sight Day event because of her significant contribution to the fight against cataracts. During the last two years, the Ministry of Social Affairs (MoSA) has provided free cataract surgery to 5,775 people.

"To be honest, Perdami is quite helpful to me. So we perform cataract surgery every month. After reviewing the data, there will be two other surgeries next month. However, we do not pay Perdami; we are assisted. There Perdami is always active," remarked the Minister on Saturday (28/10).

According to WHO, the global prevalence of blindness which is influenced by social problems has reached more than 1%. It’s greater than the influence of clinical problems (with a value of less than 0.5%) and community problems (0.5–1%). The Minister speculated that this could be due to people's fear of getting their eyes checked and the high cost of medical care.

The Minister also conveyed the government's efforts to ensure that people who suffer from visual disabilities can still be productive in front of general practitioners and ophthalmologists in South Sulawesi. For this reason, the Minister developed technology-based tools and trained young people to be innovative.

"We create tools and coach visually impaired persons based on their passion. They do not need to be masseurs because some technology now allows for text-to-voice communication. It may assist them to be able to work," explained the Minister.

MoSA has also assisted with several computers that can convert text to voice for several institutions/foundations that work with children with visual disabilities.

"Therefore, once again, on behalf of myself and the entire Ministry of Social Affairs, as well as the people who need assistance, especially for eyesight, I would like to say thank you very much. This effort prevents them from becoming disabled and then makes them productive," the Minister stated.

The Minister further stated that cataracts and eye problems affect people of all ages. This disorder can arise in youngsters.

The Chairman of Perdami Central Management, Budu, acknowledged this statement. The most common causes of blindness in children are issues with glasses.

“So some of our children may wear high-rise glasses and so on. Since birth, some hereditary factors or habits cause them to need vision assistance through glasses. Well, if we don't provide such assistance, they will be unable to read, socialize, or learn," said Budu.

According to WHO, 12 people are blind every minute (60 seconds) over the world. In Indonesia, almost one person goes blind every minute. However, 80% can be avoided by prevention and treatment. In South Sulawesi, up to 2.6% of the population is blind or visually impaired.

"So, for the 2.6% who are visually impaired, we continue to carry out screening. We look for people with visual impairments and then perform surgery. So the most important thing is to keep them from going blind," explained Budu.

The event, which was organized by Perdami South Sulawesi together with the Department of Ophthalmology, Faculty of Medicine, Hasanuddin University, carried the theme Sight is a Human Right.

This event aims to increase general practitioners' and ophthalmologists' fundamental knowledge and skills in the screening, diagnosis, and initial treatment of eye illnesses, particularly those that cause visual impairment.