Eye care specialists in Seychelles will benefit from the Teaching Eye Surgery (T.E.S) Foundation, which is increasing the number of visits their specialists make to the island nation to improve eye care.

The announcement was made by a visiting T.E.S consultant, Cyrus Tabatabay, on Friday.

The T.E.S Foundation is internationally recognised for its dedication to advancing eye surgery education and practice, and in Seychelles will be conducting specialised training sessions aimed at enhancing the capabilities of local healthcare professionals.

During their visits, the Foundation is introducing and implementing the latest techniques and technologies in eye surgery, ensuring that healthcare providers in Seychelles are equipped with the most advanced knowledge and skills available.

The Foundation, founded in 2007 in Geneva,  has been working with eye surgeons in Seychelles for the last nine years, helping them to hone their skills in their chosen field.

"We are increasing the number of visits so that we can bring the eye care to the level that is on par with other countries in the area," said Tabatabay.

The increased visits will help establish a medical routine for decision-making and undertaking procedures as well as help with the continuous maintenance of the equipment.

Since it began working with the Seychelles health authorities, the T.E.S Foundation has helped with equipment worth around  €500,000 over the years, including microscopes, loops and microsurgical knives, among others.

"A large portion of the population has diabetes and hypertension, an illness that can damage the retina and later cause blindness," said Tabatabay, explaining the importance of having state-of-the-art eye care.

The T.E.S Foundation as the structure for continuous training for eye surgeons is therefore helping Seychellois experts to reduce the number of patients that go for overseas treatment.

Tabatabay is accompanied by an engineer and another surgeon in his latest mission in Seychelles.

"In our first week we have carried out a series of eye surgeries and the engineer is with me so that the equipment we have here can be maintained," he revealed.

Another area that the two parties are also working on is equipping the local ophthalmologists with the skills to know when silicon oil needs to be removed from a patient's eye.

Silicone oil is used in eye surgery to reattach the retina, and currently patients from Seychelles are sent overseas for the treatment as well as the extraction of the oil, costing around $3,000 per patient.

As part of the programme, the TES Foundation and the health authorities are also working on establishing satellite centres, in a bid to know every patient's eye care status.

Currently, the Beau Vallon Heath Centre, in the north of the main island of Mahe, is offering its patients, especially those who suffer from diabetes and high blood pressure, comprehensive eye care.

The head of the Eye Care department in the Ministry of Health, Roland Barbe, said, "We are hoping to have more of these services in all the districts in the long run."

The Eye Clinic department in the Ministry of Health has five ophthalmologists and four of them are Seychellois.

In addition to the surgeries and training sessions, the T.E.S Foundation also donated consumables used during surgeries during its latest mission in the Seychelles, an archipelago in the western Indian Ocean.