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Mozambique: Cataract surgery campaign carrying out 130 operations a day
5:00 CAT | 06 Jul 2022
Photo: Notícias
About 130 people a day are undergoing cataract surgery at Matola Hospital Provincial (HPM) in a massive treatment campaign that hopes to restore sight to more than a thousand people.
Hospital director Ana Paula Rodrigues revealed that the intervention was being carried out by Mozambican doctors, in partnership with Rwandan, Egyptian, Turkish, Ugandan and Canadian specialists.
“The campaign so far is a success. We are operating on 130 people a day, in the hope that, in the end, we will reach 1,000 or more,” she said.
Doctor Rodrigues added that there were no complaints from the patients, and everyone who had undergone surgery had had good results.
“It’s free of charge – from pre-screening, operating room, dressing removal and post-surgery medication supply. On the other hand, it is complicated to estimate the amount spent by the hospital and the partners, because it’s all done on a solidarity basis,” she stressed.
Doctor Rodrigues said that the partners brought the equipment and the human resources, and the hospital staff joined in to carry out the campaign.
“All employees are involved, so that there is no delay in service. We work from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. to satisfy demand. Today (Monday), we carried on until 9:00 p.m. because of the public transport strike,” she said.
One elderly woman treated for cataracts declared herself pleased to have her sight restored, since it would allow her to take care of her grandchildren and perform household chores.
Twenty-seven-year old Dickson Macuácua, who was waiting for surgery, said that he had suffered from cataracts for 15 years and that all previous attempts at treatment had resulted in failure, due to the difficulty in accessing services.
This is the second cataract treatment campaign, and the first to reach such a great number of people.
Source: Notícias
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