Cataracts have robbed local resident, Jenny de Beer, of her eyesight and independence, and her condition will deteriorate further unless the Eastern Cape health department is able to address the three-year cataract surgery backlog of 9,600 patients in the next 12 months.
About 5,000 of these patients are from in and around East London.
De Beer, 58, is on the waiting list for surgery – scheduled only for 2026.
She said she started having problems with her eyesight two years ago, and when she visited Frere Hospital last year, she was told the latest available date for her cataract surgery was in 2026.
Since then, her eyesight has rapidly declined and she is no longer able to work, go for walks or even wash her dishes.
“I used to be able to work in a kiosk but without my eyesight I can’t do that without being a danger to myself and others. I’ve nearly been knocked over in traffic twice,” she said.
Eastern Cape health department spokesperson, Mkhululi Ndamase, said the department was aware of cases such as De Beer’s at both Frere and Cecilia Makiwane hospitals and had embarked on a backlog eradication strategy across the province since March, which involved taking specialist services such as cataract surgeries to ten district hospitals.
He said 400 of the previously estimated 10,000 caseload had been done since March. The department was confident the backlog would be cleared in the next 12 months.
Ophthalmology Society of SA (Ossa) operations manager Shirley McGee said the huge backlog was a national challenge.
She said there was a chronic shortage of supplies, especially intraocular lenses, limited theatre time, human resource shortages and limited facilities equipped to do the surgeries. Ossa had been engaging with the national department of health for more than a year on how to address the backlog.
“Cataracts do not improve, they only get worse over time and become increasingly difficult to operate on, so the longer they are left to develop, the more complex the procedures to remove them.
“Patients may also be left visually impaired in the absence of surgery – negatively affecting their ability to work and conduct activities of daily living and look after themselves, having to become dependent on their families and community.
“Multiple other health issues may develop from falls and other injuries of visually impaired patients; they may seek grants for disability and lose their ability to earn incomes to support their families.”
McGee said there were charities which supported surgeries that were conducted at camps or private facilities where hospitals and doctors may provide their skills, time and resources for free.
Ossa’s Right to Sight Trust charity identifies and helps needy cataract patients.
The local Small Projects Foundation (SPF) has partnered with intraocular lens manufacturers ZEISS Vision and Eye Pharma for donations of soon-to-expire lenses to conduct emergency cataract surgeries at Cecilia Makiwane and Gqeberha’s Livingstone Hospital. The initiative has seen 30 cataract surgeries performed in East London so far.
SPF director Dr Paul Cromhout said: “Carl Zeiss donated 18 lenses two months ago which were used to restore eyesight to 14 people who were operated on at Cecelia Makiwane and Livingstone.
“We have received 111 IOLs from Eye Pharma which were provided to Cecelia Makiwane and have been steadily used to treat 111 patients. We recently received another 45 IOLs from ZEISS, of which 23 have been provided for patients in Gqeberha and 22 lenses have been provided to Cecelia Makiwane Hospital. We are awaiting more IOLs to arrive and hope to secure more sponsorships of IOLs shortly.”
Medical officer at Cecilia Makiwane involved in the project, Dr Dan Holmberg, welcomed the initiative, saying: “The public can assist by supporting organisations such as SPF with any donations to support interventions to combat cataract blindness. Other initiatives doing incredible work are The National Council for The Blind and Right To Sight.”
