Menicon Contact Lens Training Center opens at Yangon Eye Hospital: First of its kind for Myanmar
Menicon Co., Ltd. is pushing ahead with market expansion in not only Europe and the U.S. but also Asia, as a mainstay of its key strategy, which is to grow markets while pursuing the company’s mission of disseminating accurate knowledge and techniques.
We are pleased to announce that an opening ceremony was held on April 10, 2018 to mark establishment of the Menicon Contact Lens Training Center at Yangon Eye Hospital. The center, a joint venture between the hospital and Menicon, will serve as a flagship facility for dissemination activities in the Republic of the Union of Myanmar (hereinafter "Myanmar").
Objectives of establishment of the Training Center
We are currently pursuing our market expansion strategy in Asia, including China, Singapore, Korea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong and we view Myanmar as one of the emerging important markets in the region, given the nation’s remarkable economic growth since democratization.
Like other Asian countries, Myanmar is facing the challenge of an increasing number of myopia sufferers. Unfortunately, the correct prescribing techniques for both orthokeratology lenses, which are internationally reported as being a means of preventing myopia progression, and general rigid gas permeable (RGP) lenses are not currently taught in Myanmar. Therefore, we will begin by applying through an agent to the Ministry of Health and Sports of Myanmar for marketing approval for various kinds of RGP lens, with the aim of obtaining the first marketing approval for formal RGP lenses for vision correction in that country. In addition to obtaining approval, we regard dissemination and establishment of the correct prescribing technique for RGP lenses as the backbone of our activities to achieve our aim of providing better visual acuity and disseminating safe lenses in Southeast Asia.
Menicon, the first developer of corneal contact lenses in Japan and a trailblazing leader in the industry for a number of years, is cooperating with the largest ophthalmologic facility in Myanmar, Yangon Eye Hospital, to design and develop a new educational curriculum for prescribing contact lenses and to boost prescribing know-how and skill levels among physicians with the aim of improving healthcare in Myanmar.
Overview of Training Center
The Training Center has been granted official approval for its establishment by Myanmar’s Minister of Public Health (Ministry of Health and Sports). The training provided by the center will be included in the curriculum for the medical specialist program.
Training Center Location: 3rd floor, Yangon Eye Hospital, Myanmar
Ribbon-cutting ceremony at an entrance to the Training Center following the opening ceremony
Second from left, Dr. Tin Win, Professor and Head of the Department of Ophthalmology; center, Dr. Thet Thet Sein, Medical Superintendent; second from right, Mr. Takeshita Menicon Senior General manager
Training Center tour and curriculum briefing
On that day, more than 50 physicians came in a constant stream after working hours to participate in the opening ceremony. A tour and curriculum briefing were subsequently conducted, with all the visiting physicians taking part.