RESEARCH KEY

Sir Errol ‘Mickey’ Walrond, in his opening remarks at the Latest Updates in Ophthalmology Subspecialty Conference, decried the lack of research being carried out in Barbados.

Speaking at Accra Beach Hotel yesterday, he said, “There is an unfortunate view among administrators, policymakers and indeed most health professionals that research is an
expensive luxury that should be lauded but left to the rich institutions up North …

“This view is unfortunately reinforced by policymakers in ministries and major public institutions, who in spite of repeated exhortations, never put a line item in their budgets for research, not even a small fraction of a per cent. This is why efforts such as your fledgling research foundation needs support, for we should not succumb to the cash economies and PR priorities that seem to dominate the functioning of our services. There are areas of basic research such as documenting outcomes of treatment that require little in the way of funds, but can have a big impact on what you do in the future.”

According to him, “Basic studies not only make a significant difference to knowledge, but to your ability to defend yourself when things go wrong. Data should be shared with colleagues no matter how poor they seem, otherwise there will not strive for excellence. To gather good data one requires good basic facilities, and I cannot but help recall that over twenty years ago, the ophthalmology services in those island were deprived of what could only describe as a gift horse.

"Apart from the missed opportunities for service and research, it is ironic to think that the wise persons who said such facilities were not necessary were later sending patients to Cuba to have their cataracts done on the grounds that one could not cope with them here. It is equally unfortunate that the department continues to operate in the wilderness, like a homeless person," he lamented.

"But enough of the past, let’s look to the future and training. Training should be linked to research and I am very happy to see research coming out of the department. Hopefully your fledgling foundation will be able to support more research in the discipline. Perhaps your foundation should also have an objective to convince the powers that be that research and training must be part of the contractual obligations of staff.”

Sir Walrond continued, “This research need not be earth shattering, but could be groundbreaking like establishing the cost effectiveness of the practices we employ. For example, previous research done by Dr. Leske with local counterparts showed the high prevalence of glaucoma in this country, but I have not heard of the follow through in terms of outcomes of treatment. Apart from the effectiveness or not of the treatments given, how compliant are asymptomatic patients with their medication and if they are not, how can one improve on it.” (NB)