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Cataract services lacking in Australia, New Zealand
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NUSA DUA, Indonesia — While cataract surgical outcomes are on par with developed countries around the world, cataract services on a whole are lacking in both Australia and New Zealand, according to a researcher here.
 Garry Brian |
"The aim of cataract services is to provide surgery to and rehabilitate those who need it, want it and would benefit from it," Garry Brian, MD, said in a presentation here at the joint meeting of the Asia-Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology and the American Academy of Ophthalmology. "Overall, service outcomes are probably poor, measured against transparency and fair access that privatizes those with need and potential for benefit."
Dr. Brian explained that cataract surgery is available in Australia and New Zealand for those who can afford to pay for it in private clinics, but for those dependent on public services who need and want cataract surgery, demand is increasingly outpacing available services.
Australia uses a system that Dr. Brian described as implicit rationing based on chronological queuing, which leads to the selection of those given services to be neither honest nor accountable. In New Zealand, however, there is explicit rationing, which attempts to be fair and objective with a selection process based on need and likely benefit, taking into account a number of variables such as visual function and quality of life.