This article appeared in the Bendigo Advertiser on the 9th August 2103
By Hannah Knight
A SPECIALIST eye surgeon is helping to eliminate the need for Bendigo residents to travel to Melbourne for treatment.
Dr Farokh Irani is an ophthalmologist who specialises in surgery and diseases of the eye. He has been travelling to Bendigo from Melbourne for 10 years, but has now opened Eye Specialist Bendigo, a practice at Bendigo Day Surgery.
''I was based in Melbourne, but we're full-time in Bendigo now,'' Dr Irani said. ''I'm moving here with my wife and kids and I'm looking forward to it. This clinic was established at the beginning of July and at the moment it's just myself, but we will respond to the demands of the community because our intention is to provide excellent eye services, excellent eye care to Bendigo and surrounding community. We want people to be seen in a quick, timely fashion. We don't want patients to feel they have to go to Melbourne to get their eye care. We can provide all of these services here.''
People may have the perception that by going to Melbourne they're getting superior treatment and that's just not true
Dr Irani specialises in cataract and advanced refractive surgery. He has performed thousands of cataract operations and his patients include politicians, celebrities and artists. Dr Irani said he is one of the few surgeons in Australia able to perform femtosecond-laser assisted cataract surgery.
''As the population gets older, eye disease has become more prevalent,'' he said. ''We want to be able to respond to that and to treat these eye diseases locally, without patients think they have to go to Melbourne. People may have the perception that by going to Melbourne they're getting superior treatment and that's just not true. Our clinic has the best and the most modern stateof-the-art equipment. We have fantastic diagnostic equipment, we have all the lasers, we can offer just as good quality of care as Melbourne.
"And I'd also like to make it known that even though my name sounds a bit foreign, I'm American-born, but I've been in Australia all my life. I went to school in Australia, all my training's been in Australia and I enjoy the usual stuff, cricket, football, travelling, photography,'' Dr Irani said.