FRIDAY, March 29, 2024
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Given the chance to see again

Given the chance to see again

Thai doctors from Banphaeo Hospital take their cataract machine deep into Myanmar and restore sight to 206 grateful citizens

Having spent a full year in the unfamiliar darkness, 78-year-old Daw Aey Mi was quick to seize the chance to have eye surgery for free, as offered at her local hospital in Myanmar by visiting Thai physicians.
“I’d never even been to a hospital before, so just the mention of surgery scared me,” she said, “but I wanted to see my family again.”
Daw Aey Mi was among 206 area residents whose eyesight was restored earlier this month at the general hospital in Mawlamyine in Mon State as part of the “Sharing a Brighter Vision” initiative. It’s a programme sponsored by Thailand’s Crown Property Bureau, Banphaeo Hospital, private conglomerate SCG (Siam Cement) and the Thai Embassy in Myanmar. They arranged for 25 Thai medical workers to travel to Mawlamyine to conduct cataract surgery.
The local hospital has just four ophthalmologists and only two are qualified to perform eye surgery, so this was a golden opportunity for local people in need.
A woman named Amonh, 43, who works at a fish market in Chumphon, carefully planned her holiday schedule to ensure that she could use the time off to take eight of her visually impaired relatives to Mawlamyine for surgery. “I pray for them,” she said as the operations got underway. “I want them to be able to see the world again.” 
The Thai team had only three days in Mawlamyine, October 7 to 9, and spent the first day screening the candidates. Their limited budget meant that just about half of the more than 400 hopeful people would be accepted for surgery the next day. On the final day, the 206 people who had undergone the operation had their eyes checked to gauge the success.
One of them, Hlo Yi, 63, virtually exploded with joy when the bandages were removed and it was confirmed that she’d regained her vision. She was asked what she’d like to do next. “I want to go to Bangkok and visit the Emerald Buddha Temple,” she said. “I’ve seen it on TV and it looks stunning!”
Another lucky patient, Marri Garnuu, 76, said he was so poor that he never thought he’d ever see again. He too first wanted to visit a temple to give thanks, but he was also looking forward to milking his goats. 
Garnuu, a Hindu, said the loss of eyesight results in the loss of independence, since blind people must depend on family members for almost everything. “My children and grandchildren had to feed me and even help me get to the toilet,” he said. “I never want to be such a burden again.” 
Dr Naing Win Htay, an assistant ophthalmologist at the Mawlamyine hospital, cited a survey showing more than 80 per cent of the elderly in the area endured impaired vision due to cataracts. He acknowledged that the hospital’s limited facilities and few specialists pose an obstacle to tackling the problem, even though Mon State does offer free cataract surgery for cash-strapped people.
Dr Pornthep Pongtaveekorn, director of Banphaeo Hospital’s Eye Centre, said his team had brought the most advanced device available in Thailand for treating cataracts, a Bt22-million piece of hardware that he said “minimises the surgical incision and allows the patient to recover faster”. Pornthep added that all the doctors who’d come from Thailand had the skills to perform eye surgery. 
Dr Patsaran Thanasupan, a glaucoma specialist from the same eye centre, noted a problem with the language barrier. “We needed an interpreter,” Dr Sucheera Tatiwetchakul, a cornea specialist, concurred, “but sometimes our questions weren’t interpreted quickly enough for the patients to respond properly.”
Paediatric and strabismus specialist Dr Vimontip Layanun added that matters became quite complicated when the interpreters were busy. “At times we had them rushing from bed to bed. Fortunately, in the end, things went well.” 
It was Vimontrip’s first working trip outside Thailand, but Dr Sittika Kokekhuntod, a retina-vitreous specialist, recalled similar experiences in Cambodia and was expecting the language barrier to make the excursion all the more difficult. “Plus, it took us almost the whole day to reach here,” she added after operating on more than 70 patients in Mawlamyine. 
The city is only about 165 kilometres from Yangon, where the team arrived by plane, but the drive from the old capital took more than seven hours, mainly because the narrow road is inadequate for large vehicles. 
Nevertheless, everyone agreed, the results made the ordeal absolutely worthwhile. The team had restored eyesight to more than 200 people. 
“You know, without my sight, my life was meaningless,” said a 74-year-old patient, feeling very lucky.
“Without this, I would have been blind for the rest of my life,”
For the other 200 applicants who’d been turned away during screening, Dr Naing Win Htay said, perhaps just 10 per cent have any chance of regaining their sight. 
These Sharing a Brighter Vision ventures take place annually to mark World Sight Day on October 8, but this year’s budget for Myanmar proved too limited in the face of overwhelming need. Still, there might yet be hope for those “left behind”. Vunvimol Supprasert, deputy director general of the Crown Property Bureau, said it and Banphaeo Hospital would try to raise extra funds to send the team back to Mawlamyine and take care of the rest. 
“I think this project is really good,” she said. “As well as helping people in need, it also strengthens the bonds between Thailand and our neighbouring countries.” 
Certainly Oval Tin, another of the people in Mawlamyine who has regained his vision thanks to the initiative, says he’ll never forget such kindness and generosity. 
 
SUCCESS STORY
Here are some of the other outreach visits by the Banphaeo Hospital Eye Centre:
- May 29-30, 2012: Surgery performed on 108 people in Phnom Penh
- November 11-16, 2014: Surgery performed on 72 patients in Bhutan
- October 7-9, 2015: Surgery performed for 206 residents of Mawlamyine, Myanmar
 
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