The HCM City Health Department on July 20 convened an urgent meeting with the HCM City Eye Hospital, district and general hospitals in the city to discuss the current situation of phacoemulsification surgery to replace eye lens.

A report released recently showed the increased demand for phacoemulsification surgeries, which has caused overloading at the eye hospital. Patients now have to queue to wait for their turn to have surgeries and many are from central and northern cities and provinces.

The meeting heard reports about eye surgeries in the city, presided over by Dr Nguyen Hoai Nam and Dr Nguyen Anh Dung, deputy directors of the HCM City Health Department.

A representative of the district 4 hospital reported that previously, about 40 cases of lens placement were done there every month, but the operation has been suspended since April 2023 because the company that won the bid for lens did not lend a phacoemulsification machine to the hospital.

“The hospital won the bid for one out of three types of lens last year. The company lent phacoemulsification machine, so the hospital conducted surgeries until all of the lens ran out in April,” he said.

In October 2022, the hospital was invited for a bid for the second time and won the bid for the other two types of lens. However, the company no longer lends the machine,” he continued, adding that the hospital has two ophthalmologists, but one is on maternity leave.

Meanwhile, the general hospital in Cu Chi district and the hospital in Nha Be district have also suspended surgeries after the contract with the HCM City Eye Hospital (2019-2020) ended. The patients who come to the hospital for medical examination and surgery will be forwarded to the city’s eye hospital to receive surgical operation.

The People’s Hospital 115 and Gia Dinh People’s Hospital have suspended surgeries since the Covid-19 outbreak. These were the two hospitals which once conducted eye surgeries very effectively in HCM City.

Gia Dinh People’s Hospital is going ahead with the medical supplies procurement plan, but it still has not specified the day of resuming surgeries. Similarly, the People’s Hospital 115 has also suspended eye surgeries as it still doesn’t have specialized surgeons. 

According to the HCM City Eye Hospital, the hospital conducts 350-400 phacoemulsification surgeries a day. On peak days, the hospital examined 500 patients and prescribed surgeries, but the surgeries cannot be done immediately.

Linh Trang