Eye Camp in Seychelles restores fading eyesight to 60 patients

This is the first time B.E. World, a private firm specialising in ‘eye and vision care’ (ophthalmology) from South Korea. (Patrick Joubert, Seychelles News Agency)

(Seychelles News Agency) - A South Korean ophthalmology team operated on the eyes of some 60 patients at Seychelles’ hospital following a three-day Eye Camp surgery.

The team operating under the name Briefeye World (B.E. World) worked with staff of Seychelles’ Eye Clinic in the year’s first Eye Camp from February 23 to 25. Briefeye World is a private firm specialising in ‘eye and vision care’ (ophthalmology) from South Korea.

The patients were chosen from the eye clinic’s list of those diagnosed with cataracts. Speaking to SNA on Thursday, Dr. Roland Barbe, the consultant in charge of the Seychelles’ Eye Clinic, said that patients should not have complicated cardiac issues, complicated diabetes or hypertension that requires them to be admitted to the hospital.

Barbe added that patients could come in and get the surgery and go home all in the same day.

Ismael Adam, 82, told SNA he had eye surgery for the first time on Thursday to remove a cataract in his left eye. He has been living with the condition for over two years and gladly gave his approval for the operation when he was told about the Eye Camp surgery.

Undergoing eye surgery for the second time, Florida Lawrence, 84, shared her experience. “I did not feel anything during the surgery. Everything was very modern this time. It has been 11 years since my last eye surgery. Things were not as developed as today, though the doctors in Reunion island did a great job at the time.”

Dr Kim (second from left) is leading a six-member delegation to Seychelles and he was also assisted by Dr. Roland Barbe, the consultant in charge of the Seychelles’ Eye Clinic. (Patrick Joubert, Seychelles News Agency) Photo License: CC-BY

Last year over 600 patients of Seychelles’ 93,000 inhabitants had surgery for cataracts. Four eye camps were organised in 2015.

The first Eye Camp project with Dr. Wook Kim, chief executive of Briefeye World, is focusing on patients with cataracts, says the consultant in charge of the Seychelles eye clinic, Roland Barbe. In the future they hope to offer other eye operations.

“Last year I was here to see the Victoria Hospital. At the time I saw that Seychelles’ eye care team did a great job, but not the advanced ones,” Kim told SNA.

A Memorandum of Understanding was signed on Friday between Briefeye World and the Health Care Agency of Seychelles to cover at least three eye camps annually as well as training and transfer of ophthalmology skills to Seychellois doctors.

“I hope this [training] will be done locally. It’s cheaper. Maybe there will be instances where we will have to go to Korea to get more advanced training because we might not have all the equipment here for certain training,” said Barbe.

The South Korean team made up of six members donated ophthalmology equipment and books to the eye clinic of Seychelles. The team brought their own specialised medical apparatus for the eye camp.