A Message From The President

Dear Colleagues As we progress further into this crisis, we realise more and more how important it is to keep our communications open and continue to share our ideas and experiences. I see today that our American colleagues have initiated the protocols that most of our members in Europe are following i.e. to cancel all eye care that is not urgent or emergent. We also received notice that the ASCRS and WCC conferences in May have been cancelled and we will very much miss meeting with our American colleagues. But, also in a first sign of optimism the APAO meeting has been rescheduled in China for summer 2020. Today we bring you news from Belgium where Marie-Jose Tassignon, former ESCRS President, tells us she is still operating on babies because of the possibility of severe vision loss if surgery is delayed. And we hear about the challenges in keeping a private practice open in these times from Johannes Blanckaert, President of the Belgian Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons. We are very grateful to our colleagues who have taken the time to share their lives with us. It might become more difficult for us to find this extra time in the next weeks, but we will continue to publish timely news on COVID 19 for the ophthalmology community from ESCRS. Please stay safe and well.