Cardiff-based Louis Stone Optical Frame Division has recently made a generous donation of 10 Perkins tonometers to the charity, Vision Aid Overseas.

Harlow, Essex (PRWEB UK) 30 August 2013

Cardiff-based Louis Stone Optical Frame Division has recently made a generous donation of 10 Perkins tonometers to the charity, Vision Aid Overseas.

The hand-held tonometers have been despatched to Vision Aid Overseas centres in Zambia. A quantity have been sent to the Chainama School of Health Sciences in Lusaka, where they will be used to teach Optometry Technologists how to use a portable tonometer. The remainder have been sent to local Vision Centres in Kasama and Mongu, where they will be used to perform tonometry on patients.

Vision Aid Overseas is an international charity, dedicated to fighting poverty by transforming access to eye care in developing countries. 670 million people, 10% of the World’s population, are disadvantaged by poor vision and a lack of spectacles. The charity has established locally-based eye care services, to help those who are in need of this urgent eye care.

The donated tonometers were fully-repaired, serviced and calibrated by tonometer experts from the HS-UK Service Department, free of charge, before they were despatched to Zambia. Tonometers are presently not a part of the initial optometry kits that Vision Aid Overseas trainees are supplied with, so the donation will allow staff to perform accurate tonometry, adding a new dimension to their service.

The Perkins hand-held applanation tonometer is ideal for community-based patients as it is comfortable to hold, and specifically designed to examine paediatric and bed-ridden patients. The HS-UK performed a very thorough service on the tonometers, providing them with new batteries (along with spares), new carry cases, certificates of calibration, and instruction manuals.

Paul Gabba, Managing Director, Louis Stone Optical Ltd UK, said, “We were delighted to be able to donate the tonometers and were very grateful to HS-UK for generously donating their time to repair and service the equipment. We hope that the tonometers will be instrumental in improving the lives of those in urgent need of eye care in Zambia.”

Jeremy Jalie, Vision Aid Overseas’ Development Director said, “We are very thankful for this kind donation. It will make a huge difference to the service we can provide in Zambia, as the people we have trained are unable to perform tonometry when they don’t have access to the right equipment. We have helped more than 1 million people in developing countries to have the vision to fight poverty and we could not do this without the support of organisations such as Louis Stone and HS-UK.”

For further information, telephone Haag-Streit UK on (01279) 414255, email info(at)haag-streit-uk(dot)com or visit http://www.haagstreituk.com.

For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2013/8/prweb11078301.htm