Gaining a little confidence - cataract removal surgery in South Africa

The cataract removal procedure is the world's most performed medical procedure, it takes the ophthalmic surgeon about 40 minutes and when it's over the recipient of the new lens will have clear vision in that eye.

Looking through a stereoscopic microscope tiny cuts are made into the eye and working under the bright light of the microscope the surgeon cuts up and then removes the old cataract ridden lens from the patient's eye.

A new artificial lens then replaces the old. Costing about $500.00 per procedure and providing clear sight once again for the patient for what it costs it is also one of the worlds most effective surgical procedures.

The patients for the operation come from across the rural back roads of Kwazulu-Natal. They are generally old and their cataracts have gradually reduced their sight to the point that they no longer have viable vision.

Kwazulu-Natal a place of hills, trees, cattle and goats, with vistas that let the viewer see for miles and miles.

Tugela Ferry is about as traditionally Zulu as it can get. Imbued with the values, it's the heart beat of the Zulu nation and here pride and independence is a thing of great value. 

But when you are old and blind these values that are beholden take a bit of a knock. The government hospitals across the province have trained up eye nurses and case finders who work in the community and do a basic examination and refer these people onto the cataract removal programme.

The stay in hospital is little more then a night or two, and the results are as grandmother Gogo Ntombi Ngema will tell you are bright. Shaking her hands and speaking through her grand daughter she says that she can see clearly, "you can tell everyone that I can see now, I was not afraid of the procedure... i was ready for it".

She held up her hands with the fingers raised and moving them from left to right, and with a glow in her eye she begins to talk of a life of change.

"I could not walk around on my own," says Ntombi, who lives in a home cut into the edge of a steep hillside. "I could not even see what it is that I was eating," and she is now able to choose her own food at the local markets. "I could not count my money,"and now she is confident when she joins the government pension queues. 

She smiles and says "I am an independent women and I can now dress the way that I like" her daughter stands to one side and I guess that there is a bit of sadness in the change of their relationship, she will no longer need to be the second eyes and guide for her grandmother.

Ntombi looked away from the home out over the same vistas that she was once led around. Her grand daughter will move on with her own life as granny Ntombi has gained a little confidence once again.

The cataract removal procedure is the world's most performed medical procedure, it takes the ophthalmic surgeon about 40 minutes and when it's over the recipient of the new lens will have clear vision in that eye.

Looking through a stereoscopic microscope tiny cuts are made into the eye and working under the bright light of the microscope the surgeon cuts up and then removes the old cataract ridden lens from the patient's eye.

A new artificial lens then replaces the old. Costing about $500.00 per procedure and providing clear sight once again for the patient for what it costs it is also one of the worlds most effective surgical procedures.

The patients for the operation come from across the rural back roads of Kwazulu-Natal. They are generally old and their cataracts have gradually reduced their sight to the point that they no longer have viable vision.

Kwazulu-Natal a place of hills, trees, cattle and goats, with vistas that let the viewer see for miles and miles.

Tugela Ferry is about as traditionally Zulu as it can get. Imbued with the values, it's the heart beat of the Zulu nation and here pride and independence is a thing of great value. 

But when you are old and blind these values that are beholden take a bit of a knock. The government hospitals across the province have trained up eye nurses and case finders who work in the community and do a basic examination and refer these people onto the cataract removal programme.

The stay in hospital is little more then a night or two, and the results are as grandmother Gogo Ntombi Ngema will tell you are bright. Shaking her hands and speaking through her grand daughter she says that she can see clearly, "you can tell everyone that I can see now, I was not afraid of the procedure... i was ready for it".

She held up her hands with the fingers raised and moving them from left to right, and with a glow in her eye she begins to talk of a life of change.

"I could not walk around on my own," says Ntombi, who lives in a home cut into the edge of a steep hillside. "I could not even see what it is that I was eating," and she is now able to choose her own food at the local markets. "I could not count my money,"and now she is confident when she joins the government pension queues. 

She smiles and says "I am an independent women and I can now dress the way that I like" her daughter stands to one side and I guess that there is a bit of sadness in the change of their relationship, she will no longer need to be the second eyes and guide for her grandmother.

Ntombi looked away from the home out over the same vistas that she was once led around. Her grand daughter will move on with her own life as granny Ntombi has gained a little confidence once again.

The cataract removal procedure is the world's most performed medical procedure, it takes the ophthalmic surgeon about 40 minutes and when it's over the recipient of the new lens will have clear vision in that eye.

Looking through a stereoscopic microscope tiny cuts are made into the eye and working under the bright light of the microscope the surgeon cuts up and then removes the old cataract ridden lens from the patient's eye.

A new artificial lens then replaces the old. Costing about $500.00 per procedure and providing clear sight once again for the patient for what it costs it is also one of the worlds most effective surgical procedures.

The patients for the operation come from across the rural back roads of Kwazulu-Natal. They are generally old and their cataracts have gradually reduced their sight to the point that they no longer have viable vision.

Kwazulu-Natal a place of hills, trees, cattle and goats, with vistas that let the viewer see for miles and miles.

Tugela Ferry is about as traditionally Zulu as it can get. Imbued with the values, it's the heart beat of the Zulu nation and here pride and independence is a thing of great value. 

But when you are old and blind these values that are beholden take a bit of a knock. The government hospitals across the province have trained up eye nurses and case finders who work in the community and do a basic examination and refer these people onto the cataract removal programme.

The stay in hospital is little more then a night or two, and the results are as grandmother Gogo Ntombi Ngema will tell you are bright. Shaking her hands and speaking through her grand daughter she says that she can see clearly, "you can tell everyone that I can see now, I was not afraid of the procedure... i was ready for it".

She held up her hands with the fingers raised and moving them from left to right, and with a glow in her eye she begins to talk of a life of change.

"I could not walk around on my own," says Ntombi, who lives in a home cut into the edge of a steep hillside. "I could not even see what it is that I was eating," and she is now able to choose her own food at the local markets. "I could not count my money,"and now she is confident when she joins the government pension queues. 

She smiles and says "I am an independent women and I can now dress the way that I like" her daughter stands to one side and I guess that there is a bit of sadness in the change of their relationship, she will no longer need to be the second eyes and guide for her grandmother.

Ntombi looked away from the home out over the same vistas that she was once led around. Her grand daughter will move on with her own life as granny Ntombi has gained a little confidence once again.

The cataract removal procedure is the world's most performed medical procedure, it takes the ophthalmic surgeon about 40 minutes and when it's over the recipient of the new lens will have clear vision in that eye.

Looking through a stereoscopic microscope tiny cuts are made into the eye and working under the bright light of the microscope the surgeon cuts up and then removes the old cataract ridden lens from the patient's eye.

A new artificial lens then replaces the old. Costing about $500.00 per procedure and providing clear sight once again for the patient for what it costs it is also one of the worlds most effective surgical procedures.

The patients for the operation come from across the rural back roads of Kwazulu-Natal. They are generally old and their cataracts have gradually reduced their sight to the point that they no longer have viable vision.

Kwazulu-Natal a place of hills, trees, cattle and goats, with vistas that let the viewer see for miles and miles.

Tugela Ferry is about as traditionally Zulu as it can get. Imbued with the values, it's the heart beat of the Zulu nation and here pride and independence is a thing of great value. 

But when you are old and blind these values that are beholden take a bit of a knock. The government hospitals across the province have trained up eye nurses and case finders who work in the community and do a basic examination and refer these people onto the cataract removal programme.

The stay in hospital is little more then a night or two, and the results are as grandmother Gogo Ntombi Ngema will tell you are bright. Shaking her hands and speaking through her grand daughter she says that she can see clearly, "you can tell everyone that I can see now, I was not afraid of the procedure... i was ready for it".

She held up her hands with the fingers raised and moving them from left to right, and with a glow in her eye she begins to talk of a life of change.

"I could not walk around on my own," says Ntombi, who lives in a home cut into the edge of a steep hillside. "I could not even see what it is that I was eating," and she is now able to choose her own food at the local markets. "I could not count my money,"and now she is confident when she joins the government pension queues. 

She smiles and says "I am an independent women and I can now dress the way that I like" her daughter stands to one side and I guess that there is a bit of sadness in the change of their relationship, she will no longer need to be the second eyes and guide for her grandmother.

Ntombi looked away from the home out over the same vistas that she was once led around. Her grand daughter will move on with her own life as granny Ntombi has gained a little confidence once again.