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Medical Support from China…More than 100 eye surgeries scheduled over three days at GPHC
The Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) has been identified as the venue for the completion of
Sister Kunti Bacchus
over 100 cataract surgeries within a three-day period. The procedures are being conducted by a team of Ophthalmologists from China.
The Ophthalmologists are collaborating with the Ministry of Health through the GPHC.
Cataract surgery is a procedure to remove the cloudy or blurred lens (cataract) of the eyes. These can, at times, be replaced with artificial lens.
And from all indications the process is one that can be completed swiftly. Before 10:00 hours yesterday more than a dozen operations were completed by the medical team. The tactic being utilised by the medical team is referred to as phacoemulsification.
Regarded as the modern form of cataract surgery, phacoemulsification is an intervention whereby the eye’s internal lens is emulsified with an ultrasonic hand piece and aspirated from the eye.
But before the phacoemulsification can be performed, one or more incisions are made in the eye to allow the introduction of surgical instruments. The surgeon then removes the anterior face of the capsule that contains the lens inside the eye. Phacoemulsification surgery involves the use of a machine with microprocessor-controlled fluid dynamics.
According to Sister Kunti Bacchus, who has responsibility for the public hospital’s Eye Clinic, the patients to be attended to over the three-day period – Wednesday, Thursday and Friday – are those who are already registered with the Clinic.
She said that while the primary issue the team will be catering to is cataract, two Retinal Surgeries will be completed as well. And since Retinal Surgeries are expected to be more time consuming, fewer cases of cataract surgeries will be conducted today.
“The Retinal Surgery is not one that we usually do here…but because we knew we had these patients with the retinal conditions, plans were made to have them booked for surgery as we were aware that the team was coming for about a month now,” said Sister Bacchus.
She yesterday described the support from the medical team “as a big boost…yes we do cataract surgery on a daily basis from Monday to Friday but the amount we are not able to do…”
A nurse dilates the eyes of some patients ahead of being operated on yesterday morning.
Those identified for surgery were required to undergo pre-operative preparation. This, according to Sister Bacchus, entailed efforts to enlighten the patients of what to expect during surgery; testing their blood and scheduling a day for them to be attended to.
A total of 40 patients were scheduled to be operated on yesterday. And Sister Bacchus was confident yesterday morning that the visiting team would have been able to complete the scheduled operations by 14:00 hours.
The Eye Clinic has for a number of years been receiving support from Chinese medical experts, according to Sister Bacchus. She said that previously one Chinese ophthalmologist had completed about 22 surgeries at the hospital in a matter of hours.
And over the years too, Sister Bacchus said that Consultant Ophthalmologists from China have been placed at the eye clinic. These experts, she said, are changed every two years. With this level of support, she said that the local hospital ophthalmology team is able to carry out eye operations more efficiently.
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