Story by Abigirl Tembo, Health Editor
Screening is currently underway for a free cataract surgery programme slated for the 24th of this month at Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals’ Sekuru Kaguvi Eye Hospital, with a target to restore vision to 600 patients.
The initiative, which is part of the “Bright Journey” programme, a joint effort between the Zimbabwean and Chinese governments has been welcomed by people suffering from eye problems.
“I came here because my right eye is not seeing properly, and my vision is blurred,” said one patient.
“I couldn’t afford to have this operation, but now I’m happy that it’s being conducted for free,” said another.
A team of 11 Chinese ophthalmologists is being led by Dr Hong Xiuqin from Hunan Provincial People’s Hospital who is also The Dean of Clinical Medical College of Hunan Normal University.
“This year marks the 45th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Zimbabwe. It is also the 40th anniversary of the China and Zimbabwe medical cooperation. This year we came here with the agreement for the Bright Journey between the two governments. The team here will provide free surgery for 600 people with cataracts. We provide the surgery medications, consumables and equipment and then provide the surgery to the local people. We hope that through this, we can bring the bright to the patients with cataracts.
“We are 11 ophthalmologists who brought advanced Chinese endocrine surgery technology and our ophthalmologist team to conduct academic exchanges and cooperation. We will conduct academic exchanges and some technical exchanges. We hope this project cooperation and technical exchanges can strengthen our friendship between the two countries,” Dr Xiuqin said.
Government Chief Ophthalmologist Dr Boniface Macheka explained that the programme targets individuals aged 18 and above, who can undergo surgery under local anesthesia.
“The numbers have been picking up and we hope to have mobilised about 600 patients that we need. The biggest screening will be done on Sunday the 23rd and the actual surgeries are starting on the 24th to the 28th. When we are screening patients for surgery, we are looking at several things we want to see, the general eye health as well as the general physical health of the patient, will the patient can withstand the surgery that we are going to do so we look for any other conditions that might make cataract surgery difficult or impossible so we want to look for people with other conditions like glaucoma and we see if they are well-controlled diabetes.
“We want to see if it’s well-controlled hypertension because all this can pose a danger and we also want to look at eye infections and general infections on the patient’s body because all this can create conditions that are not good for the surgeries. This is because if you operate on somebody with their infections in and around their eyes or even on their feet, some of these infections can then get into an inflamed eye and you lose the eye so we don’t want that we want to be thorough.”
Cataracts are one of the leading causes of reversible blindness among people above the age of 50. Although they can affect younger people, most cataracts develop slowly and eventually affect vision.
