If you are waiting for eye surgery, it looks like it will come sooner, thanks to an expanded partnership between NS Health and Halifax Vision Surgical Centre.
Under the new agreement, up to 6, 000 cataract surgeries will be performed next year, an increase of about 3,700 from this year.
“We know vision impairment can have a devastating effect on a person’s life,” said Michelle Thompson, Minister of Health and Wellness. “This expanded partnership with Halifax Vision will help Nova Scotians who are waiting for much-needed eye surgeries see the world a little clearer and brighter, sooner.”
Reducing wait times for surgeries is part of the Action for Health, part of the government’s plan to improve Health Care in the province.
“Our partnership with Halifax Vison Surgical Centre has so far allowed close to 4,000 patients to have their much-needed cataract surgery, in a time when surgeries were being restricted in the hospital due to the pandemic. This expanded partnership will comprehensively address waiting times in all areas of ophthalmology, allowing patients from the whole province timely access to eye surgeries.”
– Dr. Marcelo Nicolela, Chief of Ophthalmology, Nova Scotia Health
The surgeries will be at no cost to patients and performed by the same surgeons that are through NS Health. Relocating cataract surgeries will allow for more operating time for surgeries that are more complex, at Nova Scotia’s Eye Health Care Centre, at the QEII, and provides specialized surgeries for people across the Maritimes.
The new contract with the Centre will be worth about $5 million each year.
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