Some general observations on Ophthalmology in the NI:

De Vereeniging tot verbetering van het lot der blinden in NI was founded in 1906. It actively pursued the aim to fight all kinds of eye diseases by encouraging preventive, especially hygienic measures. In 1890 almost 10,000 civilian eye patients had been treated, ranking the 5th in frequency among the categories of diseases. Because of the poor hygienic circumstances many inflammations of the conjunctiva were seen and needed surgical intervention. Many children were victims of trachoma*, a chronic inflammation leading to blindness, if untreated. In some parts of the archipelago, trachoma was found in more than 20 % of the population. The northern part of Java, the Moluccas and Atjeh were the regions that were most strongly affected. Besides trachoma, cataract*, avitaminose and venereal diseases caused a lot of blindness. The travelling  ophthalmologists J.Tijssen and J.G van Manen tried to relieve the burden of eye problems with the population. Van Tijssen, Westhoff and P.Wijn started also eye clinics for permanent patient care. By 1940, about 25 eye specialists could be found in the entire archipelago and eleven eye clinics were operating, nine of them on Java and two on Sumatra.

The Chinese eye doctor Dr Yap established an eye clinic at Yogyakarta in 1923. It was a private initiative that continued its existence till the area of independence and long after. The hospital that was established in the 1920s was built by the famous architect Cuypers (See Yearbook Maatschappij der Nederlandse Letterkunde 1928)

See also the Comprehensive Atlas of the Netherlands Indies, page 295. The Institute for the Blind and Eye Clinic may be found under no. 21 (Coordinate E3).

Nowadays the hospital is called Rumah Sakit Mata Dr. Yap and is situated on the Jalan Cik Di Tiro no.5 (Coordinates: Latitude: -7,66 and Longitude: 110,44).
The hospital is classified as a category B hospital (reg. nr. 3471096) and has a bed capacity of 38 beds.
Its website is: http://www.yap.or.id