For 12 straight days, one hospital in Trinidad and Tobago turned into a high-speed eye surgery centre, treating thousands of people who had been waiting years for help.
By the time the effort ended on May 26, about 3,000 people had regained vision free of charge through donated cataract and pterygium surgeries organised by the Church of the 7th Day Adventists at its community hospital in Cocorite.
The surgeries ran from May 14 to 26. Hundreds of islanders arrived each day, including some who had been waiting for cataract surgery for years or had never been able to get it because of the cost.
To meet that need, the church partnered with the nonprofits Hands International and Eyes for India. The president of Eyes for India had developed a “high-volume cataract surgery technique” that allowed volunteer surgeons to carry out 450 procedures a day.
“Our target was approximately 4,000 cataract surgeries,” said Tobago-born MD Reynold Agard, president of Hands International. “When we replace that lens, people see again. Colors become sharper. Night blindness improves. It changes quality of life.”
The initiative also treated pterygium, commonly known as “surfer’s eye”, a non-cancerous growth often linked to long exposure to ultraviolet light, dust and wind.
Even with chief ophthalmologist and Eyes for India founder Jacob Prabhakar’s marathon cataract surgery method, many patients arrived without having had pre-surgical screening because of the cost.
Volunteers had to quickly separate patients who had already been screened from those who still needed screening. The organisers said that was the biggest challenge.
“Healthcare ministry remains one of the most effective ways for the church to engage communities and reveal Christ’s love in practical ways,” Alexander Isaac, health ministries director for the Christian organisation known as the Caribbean Union Conference, told Intramerica. “As we care for people physically, we also create opportunities to minister to spiritual needs.”
Most of the procedures were minimally invasive and allowed quick improvement in eyesight and rapid discharge from hospital.
Read more from Good News Network.
