‘Wow!’ The eye surgery marathon that restored sight for some South Africans

An ophthalmologist performs cataract surgery while an assistant hands him surgical instruments during a marathon event, in Tsakane, South Africa, Saturday, March 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Kayleen Morgan) 2026-04-04T08:02:33Z TSAKANE, South Africa (AP) — Gladys Khoza had missed being able to see her family.

Not because they couldn’t visit, but because the 84-year-old had vision problems.

Now that has changed.

Khoza is one of 133 people whose sight was restored during a “marathon” of free cataract surgeries conducted by doctors in South Africa at two hospitals over two weekends last month. “Wow!” a delighted Khoza whispered as a nurse peeled back a bandage a day after her operation, and the world came back into view. “Can you see me?” the nurse asked. “Very well,” Khoza replied, a big grin on her face.

Patients in South Africa’s public health service can be on waiting lists for years for the simple 15-20-minute cataract operation.

Officials said some of those who were selected from hospital waiting lists for the surgeries had been waiting since 2019 to see properly again.

Cataracts are a common, often age-related condition in which the eye’s lens becomes clouded, and they are the leading cause of curable blindness.

The surgeries insert a new artificial lens.

For Khoza, who said she couldn’t see anything out of one eye because of a cataract and had long had issues with the other, the simple surgery equates to a major boost for her quality of life. “I just wanted to be able to see,” she said.

Now, after nearly a year of waiting, some of her favorite things — seeing loved ones, reading her Bible and watching late-night soap operas — are all possible again.

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Tebogo Fakude, one of the doctors who volunteered to perform the operations at two regional hospitals near Johannesburg, said his mother was blind and that having sight restored is “beautiful.” “It’s beautiful because it alleviates depression,” Fakude said adding that the sense of being a burden was also eased.

Globally, more than 2 billion people suffer from some kind of vision impairment, according to the World Health Organization .

For half of them, the problem could have been prevented, or they are still waiting for treatment.

Nearly 100 million people are affected by cataracts, and half of them still need access to surgery, according to the WHO.

In Africa , that figure rises to 75% of people without surgery, according to a study published in March by the Lancet medical journal.

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原文链接: AP News