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London Calling Podcast Yana Bolder
Having given most of her life to serve humanity as a Nurse, 94-year-old Judy Peters reluctantly accepts the assistance of others now as she is wheeled around the Lenmed eThekwini Hospital and Heart Centre by her helper.
Peters is one of 21 patients at the hospital to receive pro-bono cataract removals by ophthalmologists Dr Kavitha Naidu and Dr Bhavna Jugadoe.
State hospitals are overwhelmed and the partnership between Lenmed and Into the Light Foundation serves to alleviate the burden and assists patients from indigent backgrounds.
“I retired as a Nurse at 74-years old and now it’s so strange to be looked after at a Nursing Home,” the Wentworth woman said.
Her mind as sharp as they come, perhaps a travesty considering that she is now acutely aware of her age and dependency to a large degree on others.
“I am witnessing just how the standards of nursing at some hospitals have dropped, I recall when I was working, we will never ignore a patient that needed help but these days a patient can just be left on the floor crying for help,” she said.
Peters commended the staff at Lenmed eThekwini Hospital and Heart Centre, expressing her gratitude to Dr Naidu who removed a cataract which inhibited her vision for more than thirty years.
Dr Naidu had been doing the free cataract surgery initiative since 2009. She said that her job was a vocation and that there was nothing more fulfilling than giving an elderly person back their vision and comfort.
What was once a hazy blur of faces, colours and the world itself had suddenly come back into focus for 93-year-old Thokozile Mzamo after her surgery at the skilled hands of Dr Jugadoe.
“They’re deserving individuals who have been living with blindness caused by cataracts, one of the world’s leading causes of curable blindness. It’s incredibly rewarding to know that their sight, and with it their independence, can be restored after surgery.”
She explained that cataract surgery involved removing the natural lens of the eye, which becomes cloudy with age, and replacing it with a clear artificial lens implant.
“It’s a straightforward but life-changing procedure that can restore a person’s ability to see almost immediately. There’s absolutely no age limit to having cataract surgery,” said Jugadoe.
“It’s an age-related condition. As people grow older, the lens naturally becomes cloudy. Unfortunately, many patients don’t have access to timely care, so they end up living with impaired vision for years
Mzamo said she never thought she’d see clearly again at her age.
“Now I recognise everyone’s faces. I’m so grateful to the doctors and the hospital for giving me back my sight. It feels like I’ve been given my life back.”
The doctors gave credit to their staff who worked tirelessly behind the scenes and contribute to making the campaign a rewarding and memorable one.
The Hospital’s CEO Niresh Bechan said the hospital’s specialists have long made community impact part of their ethos.
“There’s a long queue of patients in state hospitals who desperately need help,” Bechan said.
“At Lenmed Ethekwini Hospital and Heart Centre, we believe in using our resources to ease that pressure. Our doctors take immense pride in this kind of work because it changes lives and restores hope.”
IOL NEWS
The IFP says the coalition government in KwaZulu-Natal remains stable under the leadership of Premier Thami Ntuli and there was no “crisis”.The party was responding, in a statement on Monday, to the reports regarding tensions between the party and the ANC, which are both in the Government of Provincial Unity along with the DA and the NFP.The ANC has also ditched the IFP as a coalition partner in the Umvoti Local […]
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