Eye care specialists to meet in Barbados next month

Eye care specialists from across the Anglophone, Dutch and Spanish-speaking Caribbean, North America and Europe will converge in Barbados in July for the 27th Congress of the Ophthalmological Society of the West Indies (OSWI).

According to a press release, the main conference will be held at the Hilton Hotel from July 13 -16 and will see ophthalmologists, ophthalmic nurses and ophthalmic technicians benefiting from a series of presentations, workshops, video symposia and wet labs.

An added feature of this year’s congress is the inaugural nurses’ programme, which will include hands-on sessions for both nurses and ophthalmic technical personnel.

Meanwhile, pre-meetings preceding the main conference will be held on July 11 and 12 at the Errol Walrond Building, in collaboration with the University of the West Indies and the International Council of Ophthalmologists.

The release noted that the OSWI congress was last held in Barbados in 2004.

Encouraging all ophthalmologists and related service providers to be a part of this conference, the release stated that they should write to infoatoswi@gmail.com or go to the OSWI website: oswinet.org/ for more information.

OSWI was started 27 years ago, the release said. Its objectives are to promote and improve the ethics and practice of ophthalmology in the West Indies; circulate information on eye care to its members, members of the medical profession and the public and arrange medical meetings and discussions to improve the knowledge of its members. In addition, the OSWI acts as an umbrella organization for ophthalmological societies in the region and collaborates with governmental and non-governmental organizations working to improve ophthalmologic care in the region. It continues to seek to develop ties with extra-regional ophthalmologic societies and associations in the furtherance of its cause and to their mutual benefit.