After our February plans had to be put on hold due to the ongoing Omicron surge Nepal was facing at the time, we were finally able to reschedule our planned eye and dental camp for mid-March and so on Saturday 12th, we packed our team, our supplies and 3 eye doctors from Kathmandu’s Teaching Hospital and headed off to Swarsu in Rasuwa District, where we last visited in August 2018.
As with all road journeys in Nepal, it was slow, windy and hot and after a stop in Trisuli to touch base with the dental team that would be joining us on the Sunday and then a much needed lunch stop, the team finally arrived in the village at around 3pm, all ready to pitch their tents and set up ready for an early start the next day. However, as the saying goes, ‘the best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry’, and so it was in our case. We had been given permission to set up our tents in the school compound as it was secure and safe, but upon arrival found that the key holder was away on the other side of the mountain at a political rally and had neglected to leave the compound key with someone else. This was also the case for the health post. The time was not wasted however, as roles were assigned and briefings held on how to set everything up and how the programme would run the following day. When the key holder finally arrived back that evening and unlocked the school compound, it was to the realisation there wasn’t sufficient room for our tents anyway, and so there was a scramble to organise homestays for the team, while the cook team prepared supper. An early night ensued as an extra early start was required on the day of the camp itself to get everything set up before the patients started arriving.
Despite there being two weddings within the larger community there was a steady flow of patients throughout the day, all of whom needed to be registered and have their blood pressure taken before being directed to either the dental or eye queue. For those wanting to have their eyes checked they also underwent a quick visual acuity check prior to seeing the doctors.
In total throughout the day we saw 549 patients, 302 ladies and 247 gents. 455 had their eyes checked, 166 pairs of reading glasses were dispensed and 216 were brave enough to visit the dentists who were kept busy with 35 fillings, 48 tooth extractions and scaling the teeth of 9 patients.
The eye doctors saw more interesting cases than the dentists. Within the community there is a family group where 5 children are all albino and on this occasion we saw three, aged between 5 and 18 and all suffering from Oculicutaneous Albinism, whereby the not only their skin and hair is is lacking melanin but their irises too. Unfortunately there is no cure for albinism and the best that can be done it to ensure their skin and eyes are protected from the sun while correcting eye and vision problems as best as possible. Dark glasses will be sent back to the village with our porter team later this month for each of the children affected.
Sadly another child we were unable to help was 16 month old Nima Nurbu. He was diagnosed with congenital, bilateral cataracts with nystagmus (repetitive, uncontrolled eye movements) when he was just 2 months old and underwent cataract surgery at Tilganga Institute of Ophthalmology in Kathmandu when he was 4 months old. At this time he was also given afakia glasses to wear to help with his vision, but being a lively toddler, his parents have found it nigh on impossible to get him to keep them on and so he doesn’t wear them. They are going to give them a good clean and keep on trying.
Our doctors saw a second case of a child with congenital, bilateral cataracts, 6 year old Rajiv. Thankfully things are looking more positive for little Rajiv and we will organize, all expenses paid for him and his parents to come to Kathmandu for surgery with a pediatric ophthalmologist.
It wasn’t just children suffering from cataracts within this community and in total the doctors discovered 19 suitable for surgery. One was an 83 yr old, Kamisha Sherpa who had arrived after a 2 hour walk, on a stretcher carried by her son and daughter-in-law. With cataracts in both eyes, both suitable for surgery, it was hoped that she would travel with the rest of the cataract patients the following day to the nearby town of Trishuli, where Tilganga Eye Hospital was running a free cataract surgery camp. Unfortunately, given her age and her inability to walk her family decided not to risk the trip and took her home instead.
Of the 19 cataract patients identified 12 made the journey to Trishuli the day after the camp and in the end 10 had surgery as the other 2 had high blood sugar levels.
Thankfully the surgery was successful for everyone and after an over night stay in Trishuli, their eye bandages removed, their eyes checked and eye drops dispensed they were free to go home to resume their lives, but this time with full vision.
A Himalayan thank you to everyone who helped make this camp the success it was. Our amazing donors One World One Heart Foundation and Amica, without whom we wouldn’t be able to bring such invaluable health care to rural Nepali communities. Our eye doctors from Teaching Hospital, Kathmandu, Drs Sanjeeb, Ravi and Ramesh. Our dentists, Siri, Sushila, Anjali and Swyam Krishna from Star Trishuli Hospital. Our wonderfully hospitable host families in Swarsu and of course, our own HQF team Hari, Supriya, Lokshara, Pragati, Elisha, Jite and Aaete.