160 patients receive gift of sight as part of Unclouding Cataracts campaign

A cataract removed by Dr Jacobus Pouw from the Eye Institute.

The Eye Institute has operated on over 3,000 patients as part of the Unclouding Cataracts campaign.

Maryke Lotz, the Eye Institute’s marketing and communication manager says, “For us at the institute, and the many other people who help make this possible, sight is the ultimate gift that keeps on giving. Year after year, operation after operation, we are humbled by the enormous difference that this relatively small procedure makes in people’s lives.”

Lotz points out that the impact of cataracts often extends beyond the trauma of lost sight: “Small children’s motor development is delayed, people lose their jobs as a result of losing their ability to see, and solutions are delayed by a lack of medical aid and/or dwindling funds. The consequences of cataracts are endless, impacting not only the sufferers, but those around them, and that is one of the reasons why each individual story and the challenges behind each operation continue to inspire us on to even greater things.”

A patient, after many years, receives the gift of sight. Her face says it all.

Dr Moodley, one of the ophthalmologists from the Eye Institute, says they currently have a waiting list of 500 patients that is growing daily. “This may sound like a source of concern, which it is, but above all, it motivates and inspires us and many other stakeholders to try even harder to keep on giving the gift of sight,” she concludes.