As part of Nelson Mandela’s birthday celebrations, Gauteng Department of Health and Social Development will this weekend embark on a drive to restore sight to over 90 patients at Leratong Hospital in Kagiso, West Rand.
This annual initiative, The Nelson Mandela Boot Camp, began five years ago and it aims at restoring sight to those blinded by cataract. It is in partnership with the Pakistan Community of South Africa and the Islamic Medical Association. Over the years, 814 patients between the ages of 55 and 88 years have benefited from this initiative at two Gauteng Hospitals, Leratong and Sebokeng in the Vaal.
A cataract is a painless clouding of the lens of the eye. It develops over a long period of time, gradually worsening the eyesight which eventually leads to blindness.
Initiatives such as these assist the department to reach the target of 18 000 cataract removals for the year 2010. Waiting times have also been drastically reduced from about nine months to between two and three months.
There are 14 facilities in the province who offer this service: St John’s Eye Hospital, Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital, Helen Joseph Hospital, Lenasia South Community Health Centre, Leratong Hospital, Tambo Memorial Hospital, Tembisa Hospital, Natalspruit, Sebokeng Hospital, George Mukhari Hospital, Kalafong Hospital, Military Hospital, Steve Biko Pretoria Academic Hospital, Pretoria West Hospital as well as Jubilee Hospital. The department encourages patients to seek assistance in a facility close to them to prevent backlogs.
Each of these facilities have a target to reach each month and if they have challenges reaching those targets, plans are made to assist them through private/public partnership as well providing human resources and equipment required.
The camp starts today at Leratong. Six doctors from the Pakistan Community and Islamic Medical Association plus anesthetics from the hospital will be volunteering their services. It will end on Monday morning where this initiative will be introduced and the success of the previous camps will be shared with the media. The celebrations will begin at 09h30.
Enquiries:
Mandla Sidu
Cell: 082 773 9013
Simon Zwane
Cell: 082 551 9892
