We visited the Instituto Oftalmologico Muñoz Trindade IOMT (https://www.facebook.com/iomt.pt/) clinic in Funchal, situated at the back of the LaVie/Plaza.
Drs. Nuno Silva (from the Azores) and Fabio Trindade (Madeira) showed us the installations and the equipment they have. With altogether four doctors working there, they now pay off a (probably big) loan to a bank for the acquisition of the state-of-the-art equipment for diagnostics and treatments. Each doctor covers a specialty in their field. For problems based on other issues such as genetics, a specialized colleague visits from the continent on a regular basis.
They have a nice team (two of us are patients there) and patients are called up by name, not by numbers.
Diagnostic: The equipment enables them to take entire photos of the retina at a glance – just look into the machine and the photo is ready. Eye pressure measurements are just as simple, the machine gives of whiff of air onto the eye. – no stress for the patient.
Treatment: The doctors perform cataract operations in Clinica da Sé (apparently very well equipped) and in the Hospital Particular, and they can do laser treatments for various eye problems in their clinic. They treat glaucoma, and macular degeneration and can also help with dry-eye-symptom. A young patient from the UK with Diabetes 1 and the resulting eye problems, who was not treated adequately in the NHS; was helped by them so that the girl can now see a bit again.
Why do we get bad eyes? The simple answer, Dr. Fábio said, is age. Our eyes are not “designed” for longevity, they deteriorate. So, all of us may get problems with the vision. If an oncoming disease is diagnosed early, a good treatment can avoid bigger issues.
Ursula Hahn
info at madeira-weekly.com
