Azamat Farkhodovich Yusupov

Chief ophthalmologist of the Ministry of Health of Uzbekistan, M.D., Director of the Republican Specialized Eye Microsurgery Center

(RSEMC)

In the end of the 90's, when there have not been semiconductor lasers for eye microsurgery in Uzbekistan, we had to introduce this technology here, starting from scratch. We established our own school of advanced training and working on the modern equipment. We prepared more than one hundred young professionals who work in every region and even far abroad.

Today in Uzbekistan, the most common practice of elimination of crystalline lens is phacoemulsification. The operation is performed by ultrasound.

Surgeons eliminate cataract and replace the crystalline lens.

We plan to start the first system for femtosecond laser accompaniment of cataract surgery in Uzbekistan this December. After establishing of the Center back in 2003, the state has allocated about five million US dollars to purchase modern equipment for treatment of all eye diseases.

Now even foreigners are able to come to us for getting high technical medical care, and this promotes medical tourism. Now we perform up 10 thousand laser operations per year.

There were only two laser systems in state clinics in 2003. In 2018, there were 16. At the end of 2019, the number will grow up to 40. Everything is to make the laser medicine widely available.