Visiting volunteer ophthalmologists from Italian NGO Una Sola Vita, Dr Alessandro Pessola, Dr Gorgio Lofoco and Dr Umberto Sterpetti traveled to Lombok to conduct a three-week operating/training session in Phaco surgical techniques.

The Lombok Eye Clinic opened in early 2005 and operates on a sessional basis, working in cooperation with the government health clinic. All operations are offered free of charge to people in the lower socio-economic group. To date, the Clinic has performed 96 sight-restoring operations.

Ophthalmologist, Dr Alessandro Pessola examines a patient in the Lombok Eye Clinic

The YKI and Rumah Sakit Indera eye screening team visited Pesraman Ida Pedanda Gunung, Blahbatuh, Gianyar, Bali, and checked 273 villagers with eye problems.

The team found 13 people who were cataract blind, and scheduled them for free surgery. The team also issued 123 pairs of glasses, and administered eye drops for minor eye problems.

Dr Denis Stark, volunteer paediatric ophthalmologist from Brisbane, Queensland, spent a week working with ophthalmologists at the Rumah Sakit Indera, concentrating on the eye problems of children and young people, and surgical techniques and theatre protocol for eviscerations. During his visit Dr Stark assessed trainee ophthalmologic surgeons for the mobile eye clinics and gave a seminar to the local ophthalmologists association, PERDAMI, and ophthalmic medical personnel on aspects of strabismus.

Mrs Bette Robinson, President of the Rotary Club of Hollywood presented a donation cheque to Foundation Chairman, Graeme Robertson, and John Fawcett prior to the Annual General Meeting of the Foundation held at the Tawarri, Perth WA.

The donation will be used to support 13 children from poor families to enable them attend primary school for at least three years as part of the Foundation's Education Assistance Project.

The second mass eye screening program funded by Surya/Jenggala was held in the Banjar district in north Bali, in conjunction with the North Bali Mobile Eye Clinic team and Rumah Sakit Indera.

The team was kept very busy screening 883 village people, and issuing 658 pairs of glasses. As a result of this screening 79 people were identified with cataracts, and were operated in the North Bali Mobile Clinic over the following days.
During the screening program, the team also visited three schools and screened 466 children, issuing 26 pairs of glasses.

The YKI screening team visited the Sekolah Luar Biasa Tipe C school for mentally handi-capped children in Denpasar to screen 127 children for eye problems.

Volunteer TB specialists, Richard Lumb and Dr Rick Stapledon from Adelaide, South Australia, spent a week in Bali commencing the training project in TB microscopy for government laboratory technicians. This is a six-year project funded by the Australian Red Cross.

The specialists brought with them an Olympus BX-51 training microscope purchased from the project funds, and three standalone Olympus CX-31 microscopes donated by the Institute of Medical and Vetinerary Sciences, Adelaide. These were formally presented to Dr Dewa Oka, Head of the Department of Health in Bali, and later handed over to the Government Laboratory (BLK) in Denpasar.