Trans. by B.DULGUUN
Our eyes that perceive the world are the most important sensory organ, and so, their health is of utmost importance. The Grand Med Hospital in Ulaanbaatar is providing comprehensive eye care and visual correction services. Ophthalmologist of the Grand Med Hospital J.Batsaikhan is a very capable doctor recognized by the UN. The following is an interview with Dr. J.Batsaikhan about a broad range of topics related to her occupation.
Being an ophthalmologist must be very difficult. Why did you choose this occupation? Can you tell us about your education background?
Becoming an ophthalmologist was my dream since my college years at the National University of Medical Sciences (NUMS). The eye disease study had the most interesting lessons when I was in sixth year and motivated me to become an ophthalmologist. I studied at the Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Bucharest, Romania for six years, and when I graduated in 2003, I received a scholarship from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Romania.
I visited Romanian famous retinal specialist ophthalmologists and Prof. Dr. Benone Carstocea, and expressed my ambition to specialize in the eye sector. After reviewing my studies completed at NUMS, he took me as his student. Under his guidance, I finished a residential course in six years and got my doctoral degree in medicine in 2010. My dream finally came true as I started off as an ophthalmologist at the Central Military Hospital in Bucharest. During this period, I passed the exam for International Eye Associates, won a scholarship from the European Society of Ophthalmology, and studied retina conditions while working at the Manchester Royal Eye Hospital. Anyone can earn the opportunity to study at renowned European hospitals if they have the will and ambition, and strive for it.
How are ophthalmologists specialized and trained? Just recently, you returned after studying in India, the leading country in eye surgery. Can you comment on these?
Many people know that India is highly developed in eye care and ophthalmology. For many years, I’ve been working towards personally learning the latest care and diagnosis practices from India and contributing my findings to the Mongolian ophthalmology sector. After a long time of preparation and planning, I was finally able to go to India. I studied retina in India at my own expense. India is not only the best in the world with its ophthalmology, but also introduces countless new ideas and treatments. Instead of becoming a general eye doctor, doctors are able to specialize in specific areas and become incredibly skilled in the area and provide the best eye care and correction services. I learned laser surgery and ways to treat retina diseases with medicine. I’m currently working hard to introduce these methods to Grand Med Hospital and have it exercised in our daily work.
Mongolia has dry climate and eye diseases are common in dusty environments. What kinds of eye diseases do Mongolians suffer from? Can you give professional advice for protecting our eyes?
Eye diseases are very wide spread in Mongolia. On top of having dry climate, improper use of computers, TVs, and cell phones is causing dry eye symptoms to become the most common eye disease among Mongolians. All doctors have the duty to provide detailed description and advice about the patient’s disease or sickness. Furthermore, the patient will pass on the valuable information to friends and families, increasing medical knowledge of the public and preventing various eye disease issues. I pay considerable amount of attention on this aspect so my treatment results are good and clients are highly satisfied. Most of my services are aimed to provide correct understanding about their eye conditions and increase their medical knowledge.
Mongolians are frequently affected with glaucoma disease, mucosal inflammatory diseases, and especially mucosal disease caused by a virus, also known as eye flu. Everyone can receive correct information from the right person and prevent from these diseases.
Another worrisome issue is that eye diseases among children have been increasing in recent years. This is caused because schools are overpopulated with students, triggering dust emission and environmental pollution. Also, children are using advanced technologies such as iPad and cell phones day and night without parental guidance, which is worsening their vision. Parents should pay attention on spending more time with their children, or their children will likely spend too much time on computers or cell phones and damage their eye sights.
Nowadays, children interact with advanced technologies since their birth. Should children have specific age restrictions or time limit for interacting with technologies?
Young children, particularly children aged five or under, shouldn’t play on computers or cell phones for more than three hours as it is extremely harmful to their eyes and brains. It’s likely for these children to get neurological problems. Due to these effects, the number of preschool children with abnormal blinking or twitching of the eye and excessive tearing is increasing every day.
Obviously, it’s difficult to keep children away from technologies in the modern society. Still, it’s important for parents to have their children use technologies for no more than 30 minutes under their supervision, and have them do something else afterwards to relax their eyes.
It can be observed that countless number of people are purchasing eye drops from nearby pharmacies and using them however they like. Is this alright? Is using eye drops frequently helpful for protecting the eyes?
Mongolia is promoting some eye products incorrectly, increasing incorrect awareness, and selling eye products without doctor’s prescription. I believe that people come for professional advice when it’s much too late, when the eye conditions have worsened, because of this reason. Medicine companies, agencies associated with medicine and drug sales, as well as the individual himself or herself should pay attention to these issues and establish proper understanding and usage.
For instance, Mongolians are using eye drops with vitamins effective for people living in humid countries like Japan and South Korea. Particularly, people sitting in front of computers for many hours use eye drops excessively. Most of these types of products have vasoconstrictive that narrow blood vessels, so it only cools your eyes for a moment and doesn’t cure aggravations or redness of the eye. I hope people understand that instead of doing this, they should get professional help and get prescriptions suitable for them.
When eye sight becomes abnormal, is there any other treatment besides vision correction surgery?
If eye sight worsens, it should be corrected with glasses for starters. Adults can correct their eye sight with prescription contact lenses. You can also get a laser surgery, which is becoming popular nowadays. This type of surgery is advancing rapidly so it’s advisable for people who can’t or doesn’t like wearing glasses to get laser surgery. As the sector advances, risks of this surgery lowers.
How should you choose between contact lenses and glasses? At what age can contact lenses be worn? Will consistently wearing contact lenses benefit vision?
Children under the age of 18 should wear glasses to correct their vision and prevent it from worsening. Yet, Mongolians wear their glasses for two to three years without getting it checked regularly, which often worsens their vision. Teenagers can wear lenses if they’re able to meet health and safety standards. It’s still best for parents to ensure that their child is keeping their eye and contact lenses in a clean condition. In general, wearing soft contact lenses with high water content has many advantages.
What’s the specialty of the eye division at Grand Med Hospital? What kinds of surgeries and eye care services does your hospital provide? What is the future target for the eye division of Grand Med Hospital?
Our hospital aspires to develop all sectors evenly. Currently, we’ve issued in our program to develop the eye division and introduce latest treatments, and completed all necessary preparation works. Presently, Grand Med Hospital is providing complete eye care services with modern equipment and technologies. Particularly, we’re mainly providing retina treatments which I’m specialized in. We try to detect all sorts of eye diseases as soon as possible and combine laser and injection treatment with good supervision system before patients require expensive surgeries.
Furthermore, a large diabetes center is opening at our hospital. We’re happy to inform that patients suffering from diabetes can also get treated for various retinal conditions. All types of eye surgeries are possible in our hospital. Our objective is to decrease the number of prospective patients going abroad for treatment, provide quality professional advice and consultation in our mother tongue, operate under international standards, and provide high level treatments at low cost.
Source: mass.mn/n/29568