Carl Zeiss Meditec has donated its latest generation optical biometry device to the Indigenous Diabetes Eyes and Screening (IDEAS) Van.
The mobile eye health clinic was presented with the IOLMaster 700 at the RANZCO Scientific Congress in Sydney on Saturday. It will assist ophthalmologists with pre-operative measurements for cataract surgery.
“It’s quite exciting to have a company like Zeiss approach us, and I’m looking forward to furthering that relationship,” IDEAS Van executive director Ms Lyndall De Marco said.
“This is a next generation machine, so it will be very helpful going forward, especially now that we are seeing so many more people in Queensland and Victoria along with our hospital partnerships.”
Zeiss’ head of Australia and New Zealand Mr Joe Redner presented the device to De Marco, as well as other IDEAS Van representatives including ophthalmologist Dr Rowan Porter and CEO Mr Ian Prowse.
“We are very proud to support the IDEAS Van initiative through this donation of an IOLMaster 700 optical biometer,” Redner said.
“We believe that this gold standard technology should be available to all Australians requiring cataract surgery, and we know the IOL Master’s ability to penetrate very mature cataracts will be particularly useful in treating the patients that the IDEAS Van team care for.”
He added: “Supporting such endeavours is inherent to the very essence of the Carl Zeiss Foundation, and we are proud to be able to play a small part in assisting the team to produce excellent surgical outcomes throughout Queensland and Victoria.”
Originating in Queensland in 2014, the IDEAS Van is a fully equipped, three-room ophthalmic treatment clinic designed to screen and treat Indigenous patients for eye disease. It is manned by ophthalmologists, optometrists and orthoptists, and has to date treated thousands of patients.
In July, the van extended it circuit beyond Queensland to bring the clinic to five Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island communities in Victoria. It also announced a new agreement with Central Queensland Health in February, allowing the health body to run eye clinics from the mobile facility at its Gladstone and Emerald hospitals.
IMAGE: (From left) Zeiss Australia and New Zealand head Mr Joe Redner with IDEAS Van ophthalmologist Dr Rowan Porter, executive director Ms Lyndall De Marco and CEO Mr Ian Prowse.
