800 to receive free eye surgery

A team of five Indian surgeons and 16 other medical personnel began on Monday operating on hundreds of Burundians suffering from glaucoma and cataract. "About 800 patients will be operated within ten days," said Roland Rasquinha, the chairman of the eye projects at the Rotary Club Burundi that is sponsoring the surgery. By Monday, approximately 600 people had been registered for the operations which, he added, were being preformed free of charge. "All they need is a medical prescription testifying that they suffer from glaucoma or cataract," he said. Patients who had travelled long distances were being provided free lodgings in Bujumbura, he added. The Ministry of Public Health has no statistics on people suffering from glaucoma or cataract. Several patients expressed concern that they might not get follow-up medical care after the Indians had gone, due to the shortage of ophthalmologists in Burundi. Rasquinha said the Indian team could not be kept in Burundi beyond the 10 days, but that local physicians would continue the work. Patients would, however, receive antibiotics, sunglasses, and a month’s supply of eye drops, he added. About 309 patients underwent the procedure in 2003; some of them have returned this year as only one eye is operated on at a time.