International Programs

Medical Students & Registrars - Attracting, inspiring and supporting the best scientific and medical minds ? LEI is recognised nationally and internationally as a prestigious institution for young ophthalmologists to further their clinical training and research efforts. Over the past twenty years the LEI has had visiting Fellows from more than thirty countries with special emphasis on countries within our region. The Centre of Ophthalmology and Visual Science of the University of Western Australia (UWA) is housed in the Lions Eye Institute. This unique centre combines the expertise of ophthalmologists and researchers from a broad spectrum of scientific fields. Since 1983 more than 100 international ophthalmologists have undertaken subspecialty skills training at the LEI. Many of these senior ophthalmologists have returned to their home countries to play leading roles in the improvement of ophthalmic treatment and diagnosis. The Lions Eye Institute has formal agreements with the University of Indonesia in Jakarta and the Airlangga University, Surabaya, Indonesia to provide ophthalmic training to their eye doctors. These agreements also provide for postgraduate fellowships in subspecialty areas of ophthalmology. An estimated 2 million people in Indonesia are blind. With seventy per cent of blindness due to cataract 1.3 million people are needlessly blind and could have their sight restored with a simple, low cost, low risk operation. The majority of these cataract blind live in remote, rural or slum areas with virtually no access to cataract surgery. Blindness has a devastating impact on the economic welfare of these communities. It is this inaccessibility to eye care which firmed LEIs collaborative efforts in Indonesia. Discussions are presently being advanced to implement similar arrangements in other pacific rim countries