Press Release: President Bill Clinton Visits the Peruvian Ministry of Health (MINSA) Cataracts Screening and Sacro Cuore Eye Institute
Lima, Peru – Today, President Bill Clinton visited an outreach event operated in conjunction with the Peruvian Ministry of Health (MINSA) that screens potential patients to receive cataract surgery under the program operated by the Clinton Giustra Sustainable Growth Initiative (CGSGI) and Fundación Carlos Slim (SLIM) . The President also visited a private clinic, Instituto de Ojos Sacro Cuore (Eye Institute of the Sacred Heart), which is the highest producing private clinic participating in the CGSGI/SLIM Cataracts project.
Last year President Clinton signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU), along with a representative of SLIM and MINSA, committing to a program that would complete 50,000 cataract surgeries over 4 years. CGSGI and Fundación Carlos Slim committed $5,000,000 each to this program (or a cost per surgery of $200).
As of this month approximately 5,000 of the 50,000 targeted surgeries have already been completed. President Clinton recognized The National Institute of Ophthalmologists (INO) and the Peruvian Ministry of Health and the 12 participating private clinics as vital partners in achieving this important milestone. Of the participating clinics, the Eye Institute of the Sacred Heart, based in Lima, has completed approximately 1,500 of the surgeries under the program to date.
Cataracts, often associated with aging, are easily curable yet nevertheless remain the number one cause of blindness in the developing world. Cataract surgeries are relatively inexpensive, non-intrusive, quick, do not require general anesthesia, and involve short recovery times and minimal post-surgery follow-up.
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About the Eye Institute of the Sacred Heart
Dr. Frank A. Bucci, MD, is an ophthalmologist operating out of Wilkes Barre, PA. He is also the founder of Instituto de Ojos Sacro Cuore, (Eye Institute of the Sacred Heart). Dr. Bucci conceived of Sacro Cuore as an eye institute for poor people in Peru dedicated to the concept that the procedures performed for the “paying privileged” would in turn provide services at no charge for those less fortunate. He opened the facility in 2006 along with a Peruvian medical director Dr. Manuel R. Perez Martinot. Dr. Perez and his staff travel to rural villages and poor urban communities to perform visual screenings for individuals who otherwise would never have access to physicians. Dr. Bucci and his medical team from Pennsylvania travel to Peru frequently to perform cataract surgeries on the poor. Sacro Cuore was the first private clinic to participate in the CGSGI/SLIM project and they are also the highest producing having completed approximately 1,500 cataract surgeries to date.
About Fundación Carlos Slim
Fundación Carlos Slim has the mission to establish a range of non-lucrative projects in education, health, justice and personal and community development by contributing human and financial resources to equip society with the necessary tools to succeed professionally and socially. The Foundation was incorporated in 1986 as Asociación Carso A.C., changed its name in February 2006 to Fundación Carso, A.C. and in May 24, to Fundación Carlos Slim.