Dear HIFA Colleagues,
I’m responding to question 2. Who performs cataract surgery?
Cataract surgery is performed by an ophthalmologist (eye specialist medical doctor). Training to perform cataract surgery is part of the ophthalmology training curriculum.
Despite global data showing that cataract is a leading cause of blindness in people aged over 50 years, there is inequity in the availability of cataract surgery in marginal and vulnerable populations in LMICs. However, with the growing number of older populations, in some LMICs with resource-limited health facilities and weak health systems, people lack access to updated evidence-based scientific information translated into a simple local language.
This situation is worsened by trust in local healers who are readily available and take advantage of treating the chronic condition of progressive visual impairment inappropriately, causing serious harm to the patient.
Dr. Meena Nathan Cherian, MBBS, MD (Anaesthesia)
(Former WHO Lead Emergency and Essential Surgical Care Program, Geneva, Switzerland).
Director, Global Health New Challenges: Geneva Foundation for Medical Education & Research, Switzerland. <http://www.gfmer.ch/surgery/cancer.htm> www.gfmer.ch/surgery/cancer.htm (NSA-WHO)
Senior Advisor Global Action International Society of Geriatric Oncology Permanent Committees - SIOG <https://siog.org/about-us/governance/leadership/permanent-committees/>
Senior Advisor, International College of Surgeons-Global Affairs. <https://icsglobal.org/> https://icsglobal.org/ (NSA-WHO)
Adjunct Prof.The Chinese University of Hong Kong,Shenzhen,China. <https://med.cuhk.edu.cn/en/teacher/371> https://med.cuhk.edu.cn/en/teacher/371
WHO-HIFA Essential Health Services; mHEALTH-INNOVATE. <http://www.hifa.org/> www.hifa.org (NSA-WHO).
Geneva, Switzerland. <mailto:+41%20763837253> +41 763837253(m); <mailto:cherianm15@gmail.com> cherianm15@gmail.com
HIFA profile: Dr Meena Nathan Cherian was a professor of anaesthesiology from Christian Medical College Hospital, Vellore, India. She trained, worked, and taught in several countries, USA (Johns Hopkins Hospital), Southeast Asia and Africa. She worked at the World Health Organization Headquarters, Geneva, Switzerland, as the Emergency and Essential Surgical Care Program Lead where she created the ‘surgical care’ program resulting in the first World Health Assembly Resolution on ‘Emergency and Essential Surgical Care and Anaesthesia in the context of Universal Health Coverage’. Currently she works as the Director, Global Health New Challenges program, Geneva Foundation for Medical Education and Research, Geneva, Switzerland; Adjunct Prof. The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, China; Senior Advisor, Global Action, International Society of Geriatric Oncology, Switzerland; Member of the WHO-HIFA Working Group on Essential Health Services and COVID-19; and HIFA mHEALTH-INNOVATE Working Group. She is a member of the HIFA Steering Group. https://www.hifa.org/support/members/meena and Spotlight working group on Patient Safety and NCDs. cherianm15 AT gmail.com