South Africa: Those Who Have Eyes To See, Let Them See!
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- Date: Sat, 6 Oct 2007 07:29:48 -0400
Allafrica.com
Friday, October 05, 2007
South Africa: Those Who Have Eyes To See, Let Them See!
By Thabo Mbeki
African National Congress (Johannesburg)
During the period 8 to 12 October, we will observe Eye Care Awareness Week.
World Sight Day, observed by all countries, falls within this Week. This will
be on 11 October. For some years already, we have used World Sight Day and Eye
Care Awareness Week to focus especial attention on the challenge of blindness
caused by cataracts.
We took this decision because cataracts are in fact the largest cause of
blindness in our country. Already in 1997 we identified the National Cataract
Surgery Project as one of our country's priority social projects. This was
followed by the launch in our country of "Vision 2020: The Right to Sight", a
global programme decided by the World Health Organisation in 1999.
The prevalence of blindness in our country is estimated to be at 0.75%, ie.
7,500 blind people per one million. Of these, 60% are blind due to cataracts,
14% because of glaucoma, with 20% comprising all other causes. In 2006 it was
estimated that our national backlog in terms of cataract operations was
160,000, with the number of cataract sufferers increasing at the rate of 10,000
a year.
Of utmost importance in this regard is that the sight of those suffering from
cataract blindness can be restored with relatively simple surgery. This means
that if we conduct a determined and sustained campaign to wipe out cataract
blindness we can liberate large numbers of our people suffering from this
disability within a relatively short period of time. This would stand out as
one of our great national achievements in terms of advancing the goal of a
better life for all our people.
The gift of sight
In 2005, a KwaZulu Natal newspaper (Post), gave witness and a human touch to
this assertion. It reported on Sheetal Maharaj, 67, a grandmother and housewife
who was "blinded in her right eye and could barely see in the other for the
past two years, due to cataracts".
She had been contacted by a Dr Kanoo Soni, "one of the founding members of the
Into The Light Foundation, a non-profit organisation that offers free cataract
operations to those who cannot afford it." Dr Soni arranged that she undertakes
the operation to remove her cataracts, free of charge.
After this successful operation she said: "'I did not think that I would be
able to see again...When I was told (my sight would be restored), I felt
joy...The Foundation has given my life back. I am very grateful to them and
wish they grow from strength to strength.'"
Another 2005 newspaper (Sunday Independent) report said: "The human eye, more
than any other part of the anatomy, has been mythologised over the centuries in
every form of artistic endeavour. Odes to beautiful women invariably describe
their eyes, while many a Victorian painting exudes a luminous blue from the
eyes of its subjects.
"The age-old notion of the eyes being the window to the soul describes most
succinctly the human obsession with that part of the body. But, when you visit
the St John Eye Hospital (the biggest eye hospital in the southern hemisphere)
at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital, the poetry you encounter is of a different
nature.
"If you peer through the microscope while surgery is being performed, you will
see that the eye is a world unto itself. It is a planet, a spherical entity
where a black hole finds itself surrounded by liquid colour and the grey-white
of a litchi. Every circle, speckle and line forms part of an entire
landscape...
"For the industrious team of ophthalmologists and supporting staff who deal
with up to 500 patients per day, there is little time for such musing. Theirs
is a task of precision and concentration and despite the volume of patients,
they treat every eye with the respect it deserves...
"The task of the medical and nursing staff at St John is an endless one: to
ensure that it is not only wealthy patients in the private sector who receive
the best in medical and surgical eye care but that the millions living in
Jozi's (Johannesburg's) under-resourced townships can also receive such care.
It is all these factors and moments in history, (advances in medical
technology), which have come together to ensure that they can continue with
their all-important work."
Commenting a year ago on the important issue we are discussing, the private
health care group, Netcare, said: "Cataract surgery not only restores the sight
of patients; it also allows for them to become fully functioning members of
their families, their communities and society as a whole. It provides some of
the patients with the ability to continue their employment which would
otherwise have been at risk. It allows others to seek employment and to regain
their independence and restores their dignity.
"For many patients, it affords them the opportunity to once again see their
family members, see for the first time what their grandchildren look like and
ensure that small things such as making a cup of tea are no longer a huge risk
to them due to their failing sight."
A commitment to the blind
Our country was privileged to host the Sixth General Assembly of the World
Blind Union, in Cape Town in December 2004. I had the privilege to address this
important Assembly on behalf of our government and people. The Assembly also
honoured all of us by electing to the high position of President of the World
Blind Union that outstanding South African fighter for the rights of people
with disabilities, himself a blind person, Dr William Rowland, National
Executive Director for the SA National Council for the Blind.
Among other things, in the Address to the World Assembly of the World Blind
Union (WBU), I said: "It is significant that this is the first time that the
WBU General Assembly has been hosted in Sub-Saharan Africa. This is important
because this event should help us, as Africans, to pay more attention to the
challenges and rights of blind and partially sighted people.
"It is also significant that the Assembly is held here during Africa's Decade
for the Disabled. It draws attention to the imperative we face as Africans, to
carry out the tasks we set ourselves when we proclaimed the Decade.
"In this regard, and speaking on behalf of our government, I would like to make
the commitment to the Assembly that we will continue to do everything we can to
fight for peace and stability on our continent. I mention this here because as
we all know, war is one of the central causes of disability in Africa.
"Therefore we should not only have correct policies and programmes to meet the
needs and aspirations of blind people and others with disabilities. We must
also and as vigorously address the issue of the causes of disability...In this
regard, we are hugely indebted to the disability movement in this country for
the valuable role it has played and continues to play in the struggle for
justice and equality...
"Furthermore, the promotion of Braille literacy in South Africa has been an
important aspect of our work. We have developed Braille codes for all of our 11
official languages and have made books, magazines and study materials
available.
"The demand for Braille literature has grown dramatically in this country
during the last ten years. We see this demand as an indication of the success
of our Braille literacy programmes at school level and among previously
disadvantaged adults.
"There is also good progress with regard to the literacy drive in some other
parts of the African continent. It is encouraging to see Braille printing
initiatives starting in countries such as Kenya and Botswana...
"I would like to make particular mention of Judge Zak Yacoob, Chairperson of
the South African National Council for the Blind, and also a Judge of the
Constitutional Court. Judge Yacoob was a courageous activist against apartheid
and after we attained our freedom in 1994 was an advisor to the Constitutional
Assembly, which wrote the new democratic Constitution of our country, of which
we are so proud.
"I think that in the new struggle for the realisation of the rights of blind
people, we need many people like Zak Yacoob. We need many like these
distinguished delegates gathered here, so that together we rid our world of the
stereotypes about blind people. We have a duty to ensure that through
education, skills development and the necessary resources we create the
possibilities for all the people with disabilities to realise their full
potential and contribute fully to the development of our countries.
"Our wish for the promotion of the rights of blind people and other people with
disabilities has to form part of the central agenda to achieve Africa's
renewal. It is important that we should take advantage of the infancy of both
the African Union and its development programme, NEPAD, to ensure that these
two critically important initiatives fully take on board the task to protect
and advance the rights of the blind and other people with disabilities."
A unique coalition
Our sustained national response to the blight of cataract blindness in our
country, for some years now, represents a practical effort to give effect to
these observations and the undertakings we made to the Sixth General Assembly
of the World Blind Union. Of the greatest importance in this regard is the fact
that the campaign to end cataract blindness has brought together in a unique
coalition, our government at all levels, the private sector, the professional
associations, the domestic and the international NGO sector.
A central player in this exciting coalition is the Bureau for the Prevention of
Blindness, a division of the South African National Council for the Blind,
which plays a critical role in mobilising specialists in eye care,
ophthalmologists and optometrists, to provide their services free of charge.
Cooperating with the Bureau in this excellent venture focused on practically
improving the lives especially of the poor are:
the National and Provincial Departments of Health;
private hospital groups;
the Ophthalmologic Society of South Africa (OSSA);
the South African Optometric Association (SAOA);
the ophthalmologic departments of our universities;
the corporate sector;
the World Health Organisation; and,
international non-governmental organisations such as the Christoffel
Blindenmission, the Fred Hollows Foundation, Lions Sight First and St John's.
African solidarity
We must also make special mention of the excellent role played by Tunisian
doctors in helping us to respond to the challenge of blindness in the spirit of
African solidarity and the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD).
Starting in 2000, Tunisian doctors have been visiting our country to join their
colleagues to treat our eye patients, concentrating on the rural areas.
This year, during their visits in January and August, the Tunisian doctors were
based at Butterworth Hospital in the Transkei in the Eastern Cape. Our
government is engaged in discussions with the Government of Tunisia further to
expand our cooperation to speed up the implementation of our National Cataract
Surgery Project.
In pursuit of the objectives of this Project, between 1997 and 2006, the public
health sector performed 301,877 eye operations, working in partnership with the
Bureau for the Prevention of Blindness. Because of the persisting backlog in
this area, our government and the private and non-governmental sectors are
determined to increase the number of people that receive treatment during the
year.
The People's Contract in action
This determination will be shown by the number of people treated during this
year's Eye Care Awareness Week, compared to last year. During this Week, once
again our medical specialists, drawn from both the public and private sectors,
supported by their colleagues from Tunisia, will go out in force to bring to
the blind the invaluable gift of sight, free of charge.
This inspiring cooperation between the public, the private and the
non-governmental sectors stands out as an example of what our country can and
must do to give substance to the idea of the People's Contract to provide a
better life for all!
The Post newspaper account to which we have referred also spoke of grandmother
Runganayagi Reddy, 59, whose vision had been blurred for three years.
The newspaper reported that Gogo Reddy had said: "I was surprised when Dr Soni
phoned me on my 59th birthday, October 1, to say that I had been selected to
have the operation." After the operation, she thanked her lucky stars. When
asked how the operation changed her life, a tearful Reddy said: "I can see
clearly now. I am so grateful."
The simple words of a grandmother - "I can see clearly now. I am so grateful" -
express the deep-felt gratitude of our nation to our Minister, our Health MECs
and Departments of Health, the Bureau for the Prevention of Blindness and other
non-governmental organisations, the medical practitioners and their
organisations, the private health sector, our Tunisian brothers and sisters,
our universities and our corporate sector.
What they have done and will do, to ensure that those who have eyes to see do
see, makes it possible for us to say - we are proudly South African! I am
indeed very privileged to convey our nation's heartfelt thanks to all of them.
Those who have eyes to see, let them see!
http://allafrica.com/stories/200710050703.html
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