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Eye care center starts at SMMC on September 3rd

A new medical specialty Ophthalmology (Eye Care) will be available at SMMC as per September 3rd 2018. This is in line with St. Maarten Medical Center’s (SMMC) continuing mission of providing ‘Quality Care, Close To Home’, A team of 8 qualified Eye Specialists have been recruited from Suriname and Holland and are scheduled to deliver the complete Eye Care package to patients on St. Maarten, Saba and St. Eustatius.

SMMC states in a press release that in order to establish the in-house Eye Care Clinic, they have purchased brand new, state of the art Eye Care equipment which is installed in the designated Eye Care facility at the SMMC Care Complex. Ophthalmologist Dr. Jerrel Pawiroredjo and his team are ready to start and look forward to elevating the Eye Care Clinic at SMMC.

Ophthalmologist Dr. Jerrel Pawiroredjo (first left) with team of Eye Care Doctors are starting as of September 3rd, 2018 at SMMC. Photo: SMMC

Dr. Pawiroredjo explains their mission: “Our group consists of 8 Ophthalmologists with an average experience of 10 years (range 2-25 years). The strength of this group is that we all have one or more additional in-depth sub-specializations in, amongst others, Cataract, Diabetic eye disease, Glaucoma, Pediatric eye care, Eyelid and Lacrimal surgery or Corneal disease.

“Furthermore, in the past few months, SMMC nurses and Technical Ophthalmic Assistants have been trained in the Suriname Eye Center. This means that a wide spectrum of eye diseases will be diagnosed and treated in the SMMC Eye Care Clinic according to latest standards and developments in eye care”, says the specialist.

“Part of our responsibility is to educate the community in these common diseases and in the prevention of blindness. We will also partner and consult with all general practitioners and internal medicine specialists to establish an efficient referral and feedback procedure”.
“We expect the situation in St Maarten to be no different from the rest of the Caribbean and our team is very enthusiastic and prepared to give the best possible eye care to the community of St. Maarten”, according to Pawiroredjo

Due to the opening of the specialized clinic, this will be first time that the hospital will be able to provide such treatment options within their roster of care. According to SMMC, the new advancements in the Eye Care Clinic further underline the continued progression of SMMC’s commitment to growth, as it prepares for the new hospital.

The Eye Care Clinic is located in SMMC’s Care Complex. Patients who wish to see the new Eye Specialists can make an appointment at the Outpatient department at Tel: 543-1111 ext. 1300 / 1310 / 1334 or 1345. Appointments can be made from Mondays-Fridays between 8:00 am – 4:30 pm. SZV patients are requested to obtain a referral letter from their family doctor before visiting the Eye Specialists.

BES reporter

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