Operation Miracle Benefitted 496,000 Venezuelans
Source: Prensa Latina, 23 May 2011.
A total of 496,071 Venezuelans have benefited in seven years with the Operation Miracle, implemented in that country to treat visual impairment, said Monday the coordinator of the Ophthalmology Center in the department of Vargas, Carlos Padilla.
Padilla explained to Venezolana de Television that the social program was born on 8 July 2004 as a result of an agreement between the governments of Venezuela and Cuba for ensuring free eye treatment to low-income persons.
The initiative was formalized a year later, on August 21, 2005, through the Sandino Commitment, signed in the Cuban province of Pinar del Rio, between the Venezuelan and Cuban presidents, Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro, respectively.
In December of that year, the program expanded to other countries in Latin America and since then more than 1,324,000 patients from 12 Latin American countries have been treated, said Padilla.
According to the report of Padilla, out-patient consultations exceeded 15,539,000 up to 2011 and more than 21 million eyeglasses were provided.
