The Royal Danish Embassy has since November 2009, in collaboration with the Thai Ministry of Public Health and The World Diabetes Foundation enabled two mobile eye clinics to operate in the North and North Eastern part of Thailand. The mobile units are staffed by local ophthalmologists and specialists who have been trained to use the vans’ advanced diagnostic and therapeutic equipment and treat patients on the spot.
Since the beginning of the project an impressive number of more than 2 million people have been screened for diabetes, more than 142,000 people have been screened for diabetic retinopathy and the mobile units have treated more than 8000 patients on the spot with laser surgery.
Diabetic Mellitus (DM) is one of the most severe non communicable diseases in the world and the number of DM patients’ is increasing every year as a consequence of the changing lifestyle and unhealthy dietary. Diabetes is responsible for over one million amputations each year, a large percentage of cataracts and at least five percent of world wide blindness is due to diabetic retinal disease. Diabetes is the largest cause of kidney failure in developed countries and is responsible for huge dialysis costs.
