Heidelberg Engineering donates considerable amount for Japanese University Eye Clinics affected by disasters

In a very hearty manner three university professors thanked Heidelberg Engineering for the unbureaucratic and generous donation of 7.5 Millions of YEN (63 thousand EURO) to their University Departments of Ophthalmology hit by the triple disaster of earth quake, tsunami and atomic catastrophe in the north-east of Japan. In a very personal email, Tomohiro Iida, MD, Professor and Chairman of the Department of Ophthalmology, Fukushima Medical University School of Medicine, thanked Heidelberg Engineering. “Thank you so much for your warm sympathy and encouragement. My colleagues in Fukushima Medical University and our families are all well.” The devastating triple disaster that struck Japan has almost vanished from the world’s public attention and media after 5 months. Not so at Heidelberg Engineering.

After the presentation of donation: Tomohiro Iida, MD, Professor and Chairman of the Department of Ophthalmology; Daijiro Kurosaka, MD, Director and Professor of Ophthalmology; Dr. Gerhard Zinser; Toru Nakazawa, MD, PhD and Professor of Ophthalmology (from left to right)

During the annual meeting of the Japanese Ophthalmological Society, Dr. Gerhard Zinser, Managing Director of Heidelberg Engineering, presented the donation in a small ceremony in the Tokyo International Forum to the directors of the three eye clinics of Fukushima Medical University, Tohoku University and Iwate Medical University.

„Since 20 years, we have excellent business and personal relationships with Japan. So we feel an urgent need to at least give a little help to the people affected.“, Dr. Zinser explains Heidelberg Engineering’s commitment. “We wanted to help in the most direct way possible – so we chose to donate to three Eye Clinics in the area to help them help on site.”

The circumstances the Eye Clinics find themselves are still very difficult today. The two clinics of Iwate Medical University, situated in Yamada and Otsuchi, were completely destroyed by earthquake and tsunami. In the three months following the calamity, 3000 patients were examined and treated with mobile ophthalmic equipment. The two clinics are in reconstruction in meantime.

“In these helps, your donation is major contribution.”, Daijiro Kurosaka, MD, Director and Professor of Ophthalmology, Iwate Medical University, says.

The Department of Ophthalmology of the Tohoku University in Sendai, about 80 kilometres north-east of Fukushima, set up a travelling eye clinic in a truck, the “Vision Van”. This travelled to the shelters of the earthquake and tsunami victims, giving them treatments, medication and consumables by specialised doctors for more than two months.

“We also had damages at our research facility and the medical devices”, Toru Nakazawa, MD, PhD and Professor of Tohoku University states. “The kind donation of Heidelberg Engineering helps us repair those devices so we can start the basic ocular research again.”

Heidelberg Engineering devices are distributed in Japan by Japan Focus Co. Ltd., Tokyo. Both partners are linked by a long-standing and close relationship.