CEHI receives award from Mpumalanga
The Community Eye Health Intitute was awarded a Certificate of Appreciation by the Mpumalanga Department of Health during the Annual Provincial Eye Care Conference which was held in Nelspruit.
The Community Eye Health Institute has been involved in training and development support in several eye care programmes in the Southern African region since 2008. The Mpumalanga Provincial Eye Care Programme and CEHI entered into a Capacity Development Agreement in 2010. This involves programme-directed training, development support and assistance to one of the best organised eye care programmes in South Africa. The Mpumalanga Provincial Eye Care Programme has a long history of performance achievements under the leadership of Dr Abraham Varghese, a practicing ophthalmologist and Mr Aron Segodi, an ophthalmic nurse.
The MOU between CEHI and the Mpumalanga Provincial eye care programme makes provision for individual training and education as well as team-based development and training. Mpumalanga will have a minimum of four candidates enrolling for CEHI's Postgraduate Diploma in Community Eye Health (PgDCEH) over the contract period. The PgDCEH is an intense programme aimed at developing management capacity in eye health professionals. The course runs between January and November every year.
The team-based development and training is structured to accommodate the entire core eye care team (approximately 60 staff from across the province, comprised of ophthalmologists, optometrists and ophthalmic nurses) and covering in a practical manner the key aspects of management. The CEHI's Better Management Practices (BMP) modules are utilised for this purpose. The BMP modules are brief, self-contained units covering a wide range of topics using the BMP standard "How to" approach. The topics covered with the Mpumalanga Provincial Eye care Programme so far are: Management, Leadership, Communication and Team-work.
The recent workshop and awards celebration was attended by approximately 45 members of the Provincial eye care team, many of whom received merit awards, which were presented by the two Provincial leaders Dr Varghese and Mr Segodi. Dr Andrew Shija, Acting Chief Director of Hospital Services in the Mpumalanga Department of Health was the guest of honour. The CEHI Director, Mr Deon Minnies, congratulated the entire team for their achievements in Blindness Prevention in the province, and attributed their success to their excellent team spirit and desire to work together for a better future for the people of Mpumalanga.