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The Trinidad and To­ba­go Blind Wel­fare As­so­ci­a­tion (TTB­WA) is urg­ing the Min­istry of Health to in­clude crit­i­cal sight-sav­ing med­ica­tions for glau­co­ma and di­a­bet­ic retinopa­thy on the Chron­ic Dis­ease As­sis­tance Pro­gramme (CDAP) drug list.

The call fol­lows Health Min­is­ter Dr Lack­ram Bo­doe’s re­cent an­nounce­ment that five new med­ica­tions have been added to CDAP for con­di­tions such as heart dis­ease, hy­per­ten­sion, de­pres­sion, and high cho­les­terol, ef­fec­tive Oc­to­ber 1, 2025.

While wel­com­ing the move, the TTB­WA said sim­i­lar at­ten­tion should be giv­en to drugs that can pre­vent avoid­able blind­ness.