SOUTH AFRICA: Twenty Elderly People Get Gift of Sight

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JOHANNESBURG (News24), October 7, 2008

Twenty elderly people whose vision has been impaired by the onset of cataracts have been given free cataract surgery by a specialist hospital, government news agency BuaNews reported.

Cataract Awareness Day, on Thursday, saw 2,000 residents gather for free eye screenings and at least 20 cataract operations being carried out on those in need by the Lenasia Community Health Centre.

Cataracts is a painless clouding of the lens of the eye. It develops over a long period of time, gradually worsening the eyesight which eventually leads to blindness.

It occurs mostly in the elderly who eventually become dependent on others.

Vision restored within 24 hours

The surgery is a minor and is usually a safe procedure, involving the removal of the lens which is replaced with an artificial one. Following this procedure, vision is restored within 24 hours.

The event formed part of the national Health Department campaign to create an awareness of the condition and give needlessly blind people the right to sight.

From January to August 2008, 6 764 cataract operations were performed in Gauteng while those patients who where found to be visually impaired were provided with spectacles.

Speaking during the event Gauteng Health MEC Brian Hlongwa said the restoration of vision was one of the greatest gifts one could provide to anybody who has been unfortunate enough to have lost their sight.

"It is priceless to witness the joy of someone after having had their sight restored by a relatively simple operation, removing the lens of the eye, which has slowly become cloudy over the years," Hlongwa said.

He said cataracts was a reversible condition, but was the cause of blindness in 50% of the blind in the country.

Hlongwa urged residents to get their eyes checked frequently as eyesight problems, especially cataracts had increased in the province.

"We need to spread information about the cataract operations because most people whose blindness can be reversed do not even know about the services that are available," Hlongwa said.

17,000 cataract operations a year

The World Health Organisation launched the Vision 2020 programme in 1999 with the intention to eliminate the causes of preventable blindness by the year 2020.

The National Vision 2020 programme for cataract surgery has set a target for the Gauteng Department of Health at 1 600 per million of the population per year, in order to wipe out the waiting list of people needing surgery.

"This means that for Gauteng, we have to perform near to 17 000 cataract operations a year, this is indeed a daunting task and therefore we have to tackle this challenge on all fronts," Hlongwa said.

He said over the past five years the department had stepped up its campaign against preventable blindness through ongoing screening and awareness campaigns throughout the province.

An additional nine optometrists were also employed to beef up speciality in this area and conduct eye screening and refractions, said Hlongwa.

The national Vission 2020 Programme was declared a National Priority in South Africa by former Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang.

- BuaNews
- News24