On World Sight Day (12 October), Paarl Rotary launched a project to reduce cataract blindness. In South Africa 250 000 older people suffer from this affliction, in which the lens of the eye hardens and obscures sight.
Rotary Club Paarl brought in a Belgian medical team that on a voluntary basis over five days operated on nearly 100 financially needy persons from the rural area of Vredendal.
The Vredendal Provincial Hospital made its theatres available to the medical team. With the three ophthalmologists came an optician and two theatre assistants as well as 10 suitcases of equipment.
After the operations the team also identified the correct spectacles patients need to improve their vision.
Paarl Rotary has a long tradition of helping to provide spectacles to learners who don’t have perfect sight, which of course limits their ability to study.
This cataract project assists people who are losing their sight due to old age.
It was undertaken with the assistance of the Department of Health (Western Cape), while Paarl Rotary provided transport, meals and accommodation for the team. It is hoped to bring the team to Paarl in future.
