Franka Mohammed, stakeholder engagement manager for Caribbean Vitreous and Retina Surgery Ltd (CVRS) and Trinidad Eye Hospital (TEH), has said the covid19 pandemic has caused many elective surgeries to be delayed.
Mohammed was speaking at the Good Health Medical Centre in Port of Spain, where CVRS and TEH were doing their semi-annual Gift for Sight and Sight Savers Charity eye-surgery event earlier this week.
“With the (pushing back) of elective surgeries in public hospitals, people are losing their vision,” she said.
Mohammed said the team is willing to discuss solutions to this problem with members of the public health community, but also gave credit to the public and private sectors for working together to solve the problem.
“We saw several patients affected by the pandemic where elective surgeries were slowed.”
She said the data shows the issue is not unique to TT but is a global problem. On Monday, 27 cataract and seven vitrectomy surgeries were done by TEH.
Vitrectomy surgery is done to repair bleeding blood vessels and detached retinas, which occur in people with uncontrolled diabetes, a condition affecting over 200,000 people in TT.
“Prevention is better than cure. If you are diabetic, you should have your eyes screened so you do not have to have these surgeries in the long run.”
Mohammed said the condition is also time-sensitive, so if it is not treated and time passes, the patient could lose their eyesight.
In a statement, TEH said, “Although covid19 has rattled the business community with financial struggle, our Christmas in July charity surgery event earlier this year allowed for 40 cataracts and five vitrectomy surgeries to be done free of charge.
“This brings the total number of free surgeries to 234 since we started these events in 2016.”
Mohammed said these surgeries can be very costly, especially in the private sector hospitals, costing an average of $30,000, and cataracts costing an average of $12,000.
With donations, TEH was able to do the surgery free of charge. The donors included MedCorp Good Health Medical Centre, Bryden PI, Xtra Foods Ltd, and Caribbean Eye Institute.
She said cataract surgery only takes about 15-20 minutes but can be a life-changing experience for the patient.
“We take our eyesight for granted, but when we remove the patch for patients the next day, their world changes. Imagine looking through a dirty window for years. Simple things can give people huge returns on life quality.”
Mohammed said those interested in being listed for surgery can visit one of TEH's locations in Maraval, San Fernando, and St Augustine.
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