Antigua and Barbuda: Sir Lester Bird Medical Centre hosts Cataract Surgery Clinic

Antigua and Barbuda: Sir Lester Bird Medical Centre of Antigua and Barbuda hosted the Cataract Surgery Clinic last week. More than a hundred patients received free life-changing cataract surgeries. 

The clinic was held from May 21 to 28 and hosted in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, Wellness, Social Transformation and the Environment. The clinic was hosted to assist individuals who cannot afford to pay for cataract surgery so that they can have the vision-correcting care they need.  

helps individuals who cannot afford to pay for cataract surgery get the vision-correcting care they need. The surgery is perfect for preventing cataract formation with the condition where the lens of the eye becomes cloudy, which eventually results in vision loss. The surgical treatment will help to remove the clouded lens and restore lost sight.

“There are many working people who need cataract surgery but can’t afford to pay for it,” explains Dr Osama Dias, SLBMC Ophthalmologist.

He further said that the aim of the treatment is to alleviate the problem of blindness due to cataracts and asked to bring more people to take benefit from the productive surgery. He also mentioned that this will one of the most impactful programs in their hospital. 

“The goal is to eradicate blindness due to cataracts in our country and bring as many people as possible from blindness to useful productive lives. Working along with our colleagues from Trinidad Eye Hospital, we’ve been able to restore sight to hundreds of people whose blindness was not only devastating to them as individuals, it was also a burden on their families. No one in Antigua & Barbuda should have to go without needed cataract surgery due to finances. In my estimation, this is simply one of the most impactful programs of our hospital—And we’re doing everything we can to ensure that the people in our community who needs this support, gets it.”