‘Vision Care’ medical service site carrying out international relief work
15 ophthalmologists, etc. treat 490 patients locally… Patients nationwide make reservations months in advance
Cataract incidence is high due to climate characteristics… Free surgery brings new light to patients
Conducting ophthalmology lectures for local medical staff… Supporting education, etc. by traveling to 20 countries every year
“You’re only twenty-one and you already have cataracts.”
“I left my cataracts untreated for a long time, so my lens has turned into a rock.”
The Vision Care medical volunteer team visited Hebron Hospital in Phnom Penh, Cambodia from the 26th to the 30th of last month, providing cataract surgery and other blindness relief activities to 150 Cambodian residents and giving them a new light. Vision Care, a non-profit organization, is a non-profit organization that provides medical care, education, and social support to areas with poor medical environments around the world to prevent blindness and improve eyesight. This time, a total of 15 people, including 5 from Central Seoul Eye Clinic, 2 from Central Jeil Eye Clinic, 1 from Gangnam Seoul Bright Eye Clinic, and 5 volunteers, joined the medical volunteer team and visited Hebron Hospital.
● Cambodia Hebron Hospital founded by Koreans
The Herbon Hospital that the medical team visited was started in 2007 by Korean missionary Kim Woo-jung (71, pediatrician) to help poor patients. It used to be a small hospital, but now it has three operating rooms and 100 hospital beds in a five-story building. A total of 38 doctors are working there. There are also about 140 staff members, including medical staff. About 500 outpatients visit here every day.
Director Kim has been operating a three-year residency program in family medicine since 2014 to train medical professionals. In 2016, he established a nursing school and has produced about 130 nurses to date. The heart center, which opened in 2014, has attracted overseas heart surgery specialists and has had 266 children undergo heart surgery to date. Recently, an angio room has been set up to perform arrhythmia treatment and hepatic embolization.
“We are also providing operating room facilities and nursing staff so that ophthalmologists can focus on cataract surgeries without much inconvenience,” said Lee Chi-hoon, head of the family medicine clinic at the hospital (and missionary). “Thanks to this system, medical volunteer teams from all over the world are flocking here.”
● Patients left exposed to intense UV rays
On the 27th, the number of outpatients visiting the Hebron Hospital ophthalmology department exceeded 70. The medical service team treated a total of 490 patients and performed 142 cataract surgeries as of the 30th. This is an overwhelming number compared to the 10 or so surgeries performed by other foreign medical teams during the same period.
Cambodian residents who visited the hospital had made reservations months in advance from all over the country after hearing that ophthalmologists from Korea were coming. Some even drove 550km, over 10 hours by car, from Ratanakiri Province, which borders Vietnam. Getting an eye surgery at the National University Hospital of Cambodia is as difficult as “trying to find a star in the sky,” and getting a cataract surgery at a private hospital costs a whopping $800, so most local residents tend to neglect their cataracts.
Director Lim Dong-kwon of Central First Eye Clinic, who volunteered, said, “The UV rays here are stronger than other places, and since there are few cases of preventing UV rays with sunglasses, etc., there are many cataract patients.” He added, “In particular, there were many young cataract patients in their 20s and 30s. If left untreated, cataracts in young people can lead to blindness, so surgery is absolutely necessary.” In fact, on the 27th alone, two young people in their 20s, Nem Fiakdei (21) and Sokha Sreytin (22), underwent cataract surgery. The surgery only took about 10 minutes, but they were delighted, saying, “We can now live our whole lives looking at a bright world.”
● Eye disease education also provided
The medical service team members divided their roles to efficiently see the influx of ophthalmology patients in a short period of time. Fifteen people were seen moving around without resting to perform their assigned tasks, such as fundus examinations, visual acuity measurements, preoperative care, and surgical equipment sterilization.
Using a walkie-talkie for quick communication was a great help. On the afternoon of the 28th and 29th, Director Choi Jae-wan and Director Lim of Central Seoul Eye Hospital also held an ophthalmology lecture for the medical staff there.
President Choi said, “Medical service is not limited to simply providing medical care, but also includes communication and filling in what is lacking.” He added, “The preparation process for the lecture was not easy, but the response was surprisingly good, so we will continue to create educational programs in the future.” Vision Care’s medical team operates PTC (Cataract Surgery Training Course), which travels to 20 countries every year to enable local ophthalmologists to perform cataract surgeries, and is at the forefront of eyeglass support projects and cataract surgeries.
2024-09-05 04:11:26