Mulago gets equipment for eye surgery

By Violet Nabatanzi

TEN percent of all the blindness is caused by cataracts. At Mulago National Referral Hospital about 6-10 eye patients are operated every week. These include children and adults.

A cataract is a clouding of the lens inside the eye which leads to a decrease in vision. Cataracts are usually treated with surgery.

It is most commonly due to aging, but has many other causes. Over time, yellow-brown pigment is deposited in the lens, and this, together with disruption of the lens fibers, reduces the transmission of light and leads to visual problems.

The hospital's eye specialist Prof. Amos Mwaka revealed that lack of medical equipment is one of the challenges that the hospital faces in offering health services to its patients.

Speaking while receiving the eye surgical equipment from KCB bank at Mulago, Mwaka said, patients with diabetes have high chances of getting cataracts.

Other causes of cataracts are blunt trauma which causes swelling, thickening, and whitening of the lens fiber.

He said, "The medical equipment will go a long way in carrying out duties effectively and provide quality health services to the patients,"

Mwaka however expressed concern that, although the eye problem is big, majority of the patients postpone eye treatment because they think that they will not die.

He said a patient who has undergone surgery takes about three months for the tissues to recover. At Mulago the surgery is done free of charge.

In private hospitals the cost of eye surgery is about sh1.2m while in India it goes up to $ 1000 and 2000.

The managing director of KCB bank Joram Kiarie said the equipment will improve the services provided at the hospital and will contribute significantly towards treatment of poor and underprivileged patients in need of eye surgery.