Jakarta (ANTARA) - Social Affairs Minister Tri Rismaharini stated here on Sunday that multisectoral collaboration is a strategy for preventing disability conditions, including visual impairments in Indonesia.
Rismaharini said that one of the organizations that always collaborates with the government to treat and prevent blindness and other visual impairments in Indonesia is the Indonesian Ophthalmologist Association (Perdami).
"Perdami helps us a lot. Every month, we do free cataract surgery, where Perdami is always active," she said.
She said the government is very focused on handling and preventing cataracts. In the last two years, 5,775 people participated in free cataract surgery facilitated by the Ministry of Social Affairs.
According to WHO, the global prevalence of visual impairment, influenced by social issues, reaches more than one percent which is higher than the cause of clinical problems at less than 0.5 percent, and community problems at 0.5-1 percent.
"This could be due to people's fear of getting their eyes checked due to expensive medical expenses," Rismaharini said.
Meanwhile, the government is seeking to improve the productivity of people with visual impairments through such endeavors as by making technology-based tools and training blind people to be able to work.
"We make tools and train them according to their passion. They do not have to be masseurs because text-to-voice technology can help them work," she said.
The Social Affairs Ministry has provided assistance in the form of computers that can convert text to voice for several institutions and foundations that deal with children with visual impairments.
Minister Rismaharini said the government wants visually impaired people to be productive because cataracts and other eye diseases are not only experienced by the elderly but also by young people.
Related news: Cataract is leading cause of blindness in Indonesia: Health Ministry
Related news: Indonesian Ophthalmologist Association forecasts increased blindness
