Flying Doctors Taking Eye Care to PWDs
Prevention of Blindness in the Eastern Highlands of Papua New Guinea
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- Remote areas like the village in Maprik are difficult to access in PNG. Medical staff goes on outreach trips regularly, to provide services to villagers. © CBM
Based in the Goroka Eye Clinic situated in the Eastern highlands, Eye Care staff goes on regular outreach trips - often by airplane to remote or mountainous parts of the country. Patients are being visited who otherwise would not have the opportunity to see a doctor. Many of cataract sufferers do not know that their sight can be restored by a simple operation and therefore stay blind for many years. During one year the Goroka Eye Care team performs more than 1,100 surgeries throughout the country, half of them in remote areas. More than 90% are patients suffering from cataract. Besides cataracts, glaucoma and other eye operations are being done.
Cataract operation enables boy to go to school
The situation of children with cataract can be especially hard. In the course of one outreach trip, CBM staff came across an 11-year-old boy who had been blind for the last 4 years. Besides his visual impairment, the boy reacted as if he had an intellectual disability. After a successful cataract operation, the child was still not able to count the fingers in front of his eyes. But the reason was not an intellectual disability. The boy simply had not learnt how to count, because he had dropped out of school in his first year when he started losing his sight. Only the cataract operation restored his vision. Now he got the chance to develop to his full abilities.
Many blind people without access to medical eye care
In Papua New Guinea currently only the capital Port Moresby and two other cities besides Goroka provide eye care services to a population of an estimated 5,5 million. There are no exact figures available on how many blind people live in the country. But CBM staff deduces from the outreach trips that there must be high numbers countrywide.
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- Dilne Gigma (62), had cataract. Dr. Wilson examines the right eye. As one can see from her face - the operation was successful. © CBM
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Outreach and cataract surgeries for more people
Since 1996 CBM contributes to prevent people from becoming blind in the Eastern Highlands of Papua New Guinea by providing basic eye care services near to their homes. CBM’s goal is to boost the surgeries from 1,100 to 1,500 per year. Further objectives are to do more outreach trips and to create a network with other ophthalmologists in the region. The project is part of the international VISION 2020 initiative, aiming at the elimination of avoidable blindness by the year 2020. Since CBM promotes sustainability of development, the training and cooperation of expatriate and national specialists are other vital parts of the program.
Further information: Prevention of Blindness
Read more: What Causes Cataract?
Further information: Prevention of Blindness
Read more: What Causes Cataract?
