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| Dr. Francisco Delgado (far left front) with staff and IEF's Raheem Rahmathullah (far right) |
The
International Eye Foundation and Vision for the Poor are proud to announce the
opening of a new social enterprise eye clinic in Managua, Nicaragua. The grand opening of Clinica Oftalmologica Ojo
Sano will be Wednesday, August 29, 2012 at 10 a.m.
Representatives
from the Nicaragua and
Managua Ministries of Health have been invited along with representatives from
the office of the US
Ambassador to Nicaragua. Representatives from the local Rotary
International club, local Lions Clubs International, International Eye
Foundation, Vision for the Poor, Visualiza (Guatemala), along with Mario Secasa
representing Future of Nicaragua will be present.
A joint partnership of the International
Eye Foundation (IEF) and Vision for the Poor has worked for over a year
with Dr. Francisco Abraham Delgado Dolmus to establish this new social
enterprise eye clinic serving all segments of the population in and around the
capital Managua, Nicaragua. Dr. Delgado, a senior ophthalmologist with 20
years experience practicing in the government and private sectors, founded the Fundación
Oftalmológica Nicaragüense de Prevención de Ceguera (FONIPRECE) and will be
Chief Ophthalmologist for Clinica Oftalmologica Ojo Sano. With private, fee paying and social services,
the new clinic will have a sliding fee structure allowing revenue for
sustainability and to cross-subsidize services for the poor who cannot
pay. Providing quality Ophthalmic and
Optical services to residents of Managua
as well as patients from surrounding rural areas, the clinic will be staffed by
Nicaraguan ophthalmologists who are there full time.
Fee paying (for profit) services will
offset the cost of the social services and by the end of three years, the
clinic will be self-sustaining reducing the need for outside funding for core
costs. This demonstrated, verifiable
approach to affordable eye care for all is working successfully in 17 countries
with IEF’s 29 current sustainability partners.
The clinic in Managua
will adhere to the same management and organizational principles. IEF gratefully acknowledges grant support for
this program from the Lavelle Fund for the Blind.
