EyeWorld Asia-Pacific March 2015 Issue

58 EWAP NEWS & OPINION March 2015 3rd INASCRS Biennial Meeting by Bambang Triwiyono, MD D espite the Indonesian Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery’s (INASCRS) having run free community cataract surgeries at over 10,000 cases per year, it has still not been enough to eliminate the cataract backlog in Indonesia. More than 2,000,000 people suffer from cataract and the number is increasing rapidly, giving the country one of the highest blindness rates in Asia. The country, with its population of 250 million, has one ophthalmologist for every 130,000 citizens. This number is far from the ideal of the WHO recommendation, which is one for every 20,000. Currently there are 1,800 ophthalmologists in Indonesia, around 1,000 of whom are actively performing cataract surgery; fewer than 10 perform corneal transplantation procedures. In an effort to increase the number of cataract and corneal transplantation surgeries, a corneal workshop with step-by-step instruction on DSAEK and DALK was organized in conjunction with the 3rd INASCRS Biennial Meeting held from 8 to 9 January 2015 at the Jakarta Eye Center. This 2-day pre-meeting led by Anthony J. Aldave, MD , Calif., U.S., was attended by more than 40 potential future corneal surgeons. “This is very invaluable opportunity, Dr. Aldave, Dr. Olivia and Dr. Codriansky come and share their experiences; we have to take the advantage of this opportunity, learn as much as we could from a well- known surgeons”, said Setiyo Budi Riyanto, MD , president, INASCRS. Immediately following the pre-meeting, the INASCRS 3rd Biennial Meeting was held from 10 to 11 January 2015. The meeting was attended by more than 800 local participants. The meeting was opened by the Indonesian Health Minister, Nila Moeloek, MD . In her opening speech, the health minister who is also the president of Indonesian Ophthalmologist Association, provided insight on how she would encourage the Indonesian government to give priority to resolving the cataract backlog. Meanwhile, the INASCRS must provide Indonesian ophthalmologists with more access to local cataract training centers. Improving the quality and increasing the quantity of cataract surgeons is one of the top priorities to resolve the backlog. “Every Indonesian ophthalmologist should have access to cataract surgery training at affordable cost,” the minister said. Abhay Vasavada, MD , Ahmedabad, India, delivered an interesting talk on the “Management of Ectopia Lentis” in the plenary session. Other speakers, including Takayuki Akahoshi, MD , Tokyo, Japan, Fam Han Bor, MD , Singapore, Cesar Espiritu, MD , Metro Manila, Philippines, Prin Rojanapongpun, MD , Bangkok, Thailand, also joined the meeting. Ronald Yeoh, MD , Singapore, on behalf of APACRS had the honor of giving the opening remarks, in which he congratulated Hadi Prakoso, MD , Jakarta, Indonesia, as the chairman of the organizing committee. Dr. Yeoh emphasized that the collaboration between national societies and the APACRS is the strong point for successful meetings in the future. He invited the audience to participate in the upcoming APACRS annual meeting in Kuala Lumpur to be held from 5 to 8 August 2015, as well as the 2016 Meeting in Bali, known as the Goddess Island, to be chaired by Johan Hutauruk, MD , Jakarta, Indonesia. EWAP Editors’ note: Dr. Triwiyono is secretary general of INASCRS.