Thursday, January 12, 2012

Eye Care News

News just in of two successful eye care outreaches in the suburbs of Khartoum and Omdurman last month.  A total of 214 patients were seen; 139  were prescribed medicines, mainly eye drops;  51 were referred to hospital for sight tests; and 50 were recommended for operations.  Many thanks to our indefatigable doctors who undertake this work and to Izdihar and colleagues from our Khartoum office who organize the day’s work and provide indispensable support.

We have just collated the eye care statistics for 2011.  5074 patients were seen, just over half of them at 24 day-long outreaches in the Khartoum displaced areas and the rest in the Nuba Mountains.  477 of the recommended operations were carried out, mostly for cataracts, and with an excellent success rate.  The others will be arranged as soon as security conditions permit in the Nuba Mountains.   We are glad to have been able to help so many people but the needs remain enormous and our generous donors - Dark and Light and Light for the World - have been obliged to suspend funding for us in 2012 because of the financial crisis.  Can you help?


This team helped many in the Nuba Mountains early in 2011