Projects

Borneo is the third largest island in the world (three times the size of Texas); Kalimantan is the region of Borneo within Indonesia and has an estimated population of 24 million people. Many of the people suffer from various vision impairments that can be addressed with glasses, surgeries, or medicines. There is a great need for eye care in this underserved region.

 

As an ophthalmologist, Dr. Steve Anderson has partnered with Bethesda Mission Hospital and Global Eye Mission in order to develop a self-sustaining surgical eye unit in West Kalimantan. Dr. Anderson is involved with training a newly-graduated Indonesian ophthalmologist, helping to equip the hospital with the needed equipment and supplies, assisting in setting up sustainable support and supply lines to maintain the eye service into the indefinite future, and helping to develop an outreach program for eye care in the more remote village regions. It is Dr. Anderson’s responsibility to recruit and provide financial support and funding to develop the eye unit as well as his and his family’s living expenses.

 

Because the population group being served has minimal resources to pay for health care, Bethesda Hospital and Dr. Anderson will depend initially on outside revenue to develop and maintain the eye unit. The long-term goal for sustainability is to develop a model in which patient revenue eventually supports the ongoing operating expenses of the eye program.  However, because the purpose of the hospital and eye unit is to serve the poor, outside funding for periodic development of infrastructure, purchase of medical equipment and training will likely be needed into the future.