Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio has issued an executive order creating an eye care health team in Davao City.
EO 17, which was signed last April, facilitates the barangay level programs to prevent blindness, and orders the crafting of proposals that will promote the preservation and restoration of sight to Dabawenyos.
The unit comprises representatives from the City Health Office, Department of Health Region XI, Department of Education’s City Schools Division, and the City Social Services and Development Office.
The task force also includes three representatives from non-government organizations, as well as those from schools that offer solutions for eye illnesses, such as the Davao Doctors College of Optometry, Mindanao Medical Foundation College of Optometry, and the Integrated Philippine Association of Optometrists.
The CHO will designate replacements for the said positions in case the partner institutions do not intend to help out or are unable to.
In previous years, the city government had been asked to provide a government item for a city-paid optometrist. But the idea was scrapped.
The optometrist would have offered free services to the public. However, the new task force partners the local and national government agencies with private entities to see how programs could be identified to prevent blindness and other eye care issues.
Source: Yas Ocampo | Manila Bulletin
