This year, we are celebrating World Sight Day on 10 October with a special surgery event offering free cataract surgeries to 60 patients in need. This project is a collaboration with Grace Vision and Operation Healing Hands (OHH). Grace Vision is a non-profit organisation, established in 2012, dedicated to providing free essential eye care services and free cataract surgeries to the poorest of the poor from underserved communities in the rural Eastern Cape.
Grace Vision mobile eye clinic vehicles are fully equipped with examination equipment including ophthalmoscope, retinoscope, autorefractor, slit lamp, tonometer, phoropter, vision chart screen and A-Scan. This empowers the attending optometrist and assistants to prescribe spectacles, book for cataract surgery in our operating theatre and also refer to the on call ophthalmologist for any urgent treatment. They also have reading glasses to give immediately and frames for prescription spectacles to be ordered.
Some of their annual targets include but are not limited to:
- To perform cataract surgery on every patient whose condition falls within the cataract surgery requirement, within 3 months of the diagnosis.
- Screen a minimum of 10000 people from the area for eye conditions; (Zithulele and Canzibe)
- Treat 8000 primary eye complaints;
- Fully assess refractive errors, and distribute a minimum of 4000 pairs of glasses;
- Screen formally for cataracts, and keep records of everyone who will require surgery immediately or at some later stage.
Our dedicated specialists will perform the manual small-incision cataract surgeries (MSICS) on 60 patients over 3 days from 8-10 October 2024 at Zithulele Hospital in the Eastern Cape Province (a fully equipped surgical unit for performing MSICS). The hospital is a 147 bed government-funded institution near Mqanduli, Eastern Cape which serves a population of 130,000 in its catchment area. The Grace Vision facility at Zithulele Hospital includes a specially designed surgery, office space and accommodation, where low-cost, high-volume yet highly efficient cataract surgeries are performed. The MSICS technique used, enables surgeons to perform a minimum of 20 cataract surgeries per day, per surgeon. This is significantly higher than South African norms and is well on the way to reach targets set out by the World Health Organisation.
Our patients will rest and recover with their next of kin by their side at the Zithulele facility in the days following their MSICS procedures. This not only ensures that everyone receives the best post-operative care and follow up, but also that they are ready for discharge and able to resume daily tasks efficiently.
We would like to thank our incredible partners, sponsors, doctors and support staff for making this project a reality and enabling us to keep making a difference countrywide. Keep an EYE on our social media channels for updates and stories as we truly celebrate this years World Sight Day by restoring eyesight and #ChangingLives!
